Methods for converting lignocellulosic materials to useful products

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides compositions and methods for the pretreatment of lignocellulosic material. The present invention further provides for pretreated lignocellulosic material that can be used to produce useful products, such as fermentable sugars.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of and priority from U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/570,438, filed on Dec. 14, 2011 and U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/495,541, filed on Jun. 10, 2011, thedisclosures of each of which are incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention concerns pretreatment solutions forlignocellulosic material and methods for pretreating lignocellulosicmaterial that can be used to produce useful products, such asfermentable sugars.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Lignocellulosic material can be used to produce biofuels (e.g.,bioethanol) and biochemicals, and thus is an alternative to fossilfuels. For efficient biofuel production from lignocellulosic materials,the cellulose and/or hemicellulose components of lignocellulosicmaterial need to be converted to monosaccharides (i.e., monosugars) thatare capable of being fermented into ethanol or butanol. Prior work inthis area has proposed processes for the production of fermentablesugars from lignocellulosic material that involve a chemical and/orphysical pretreatment to disrupt the natural structure of thelignocellulosic material, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis of thecellulose and hemicellulose components into monosugars. The monosugarscan then be fermented to produce biofuels including ethanol or butanol,and/or other fermentation products such as organic acids and/or otheralcohols. However, these processes currently have not beencommercialized due to the high cost, low efficiency, adverse reactionconditions, and other issues associated with the pretreatment process.In addition, these processes are not environmentally friendly and inorder to achieve effective and efficient hydrolysis, a large addition ofenzymes is required, which further increases costs.

The present invention addresses previous shortcomings in the art byproviding pretreatment solutions for lignocellulosic material andmethods for pretreating lignocellulosic material that can be used toproduce fermentable sugars.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A first aspect of the present invention includes a pretreatment solutionfor lignocellulosic material comprising about 30% to about 99% by weightalkylene carbonate, about 0.1% to about 5% by weight an acid catalyst,and about 0% to about 20% by weight water.

A second aspect of the present invention includes a pretreatmentsolution for lignocellulosic material comprising about 1% to about 60%by weight polyol, about 30% to about 99% alkylene carbonate, about 0.1%to about 5% acid, and about 0.1% to about 10% water.

Another aspect of the present invention includes a method for producinga partially hydrolyzed lignocellulosic material, comprising pretreatinga lignocellulosic material with a pretreatment solution comprising about30% to about 99% by weight alkylene carbonate, about 0.1% to about 5% byweight an acid catalyst, and about 0% to about 20% by weight water,thereby producing a pretreated partially hydrolyzed lignocellulosicmaterial.

A further aspect of the present invention includes a method forproducing a fermentable sugar, comprising pretreating a lignocellulosicmaterial with a pretreatment solution comprising about 30% to about 99%by weight alkylene carbonate, about 0.1% to about 5% by weight an acidcatalyst, and about 0% to about 20% by weight water to produce apretreated lignocellulosic material, and enzymatically hydrolyzing thepretreated lignocellulosic material, thereby producing a fermentablesugar.

Another aspect of the present invention includes a method for producinga partially hydrolyzed lignocellulosic material, comprising pretreatinga lignocellulosic material with a pretreatment solution comprising about1% to about 60% by weight polyol, about 30% to about 99% alkylenecarbonate, about 0.1% to about 5% acid, and about 0.1% to about 10%water, thereby producing a pretreated partially hydrolyzedlignocellulosic material.

A further aspect of the present invention includes a method forproducing a fermentable sugar, comprising pretreating a lignocellulosicmaterial with a pretreatment solution comprising about 1% to about 60%by weight polyol, about 30% to about 99% alkylene carbonate, about 0.1%to about 5% acid, and about 0.1% to about 10% water to produce apretreated lignocellulosic material, and enzymatically hydrolyzing thepretreated lignocellulosic material, thereby producing a fermentablesugar.

The foregoing and other aspects of the present invention will now bedescribed in more detail with respect to other embodiments describedherein. It should be appreciated that the invention can be embodied indifferent forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows FTIR spectra of (a) untreated bagasse, (b) bagassepretreated with an acid solution, and (c) bagasse pretreated with aglycerol/acid/water solution,

FIG. 2 shows SEM images of (a) untreated bagasse, (b) bagasse pretreatedwith an acid solution, and (c) bagasse pretreated with aglycerol/acid/water solution. Samples were magnified 1000 times.

FIG. 3 shows graphs of the kinetics of enzymatic hydrolysis of bagassepretreated with pretreatment solutions comprising (a) glycerol, (b)ethylene glycol, and (c) 1,2-propanediol.

FIG. 4 shows the effect of lignin removal by soda wash on enzymatichydrolysis of bagasse pretreated with pretreatment solutions comprising(a) ethylene glycol solution and (b) 1,2-propanediol solution.

FIG. 5 shows a comparison of dilute acid treatment, caustic sodatreatment, and acid-catalyzed aqueous glycerol pretreatment of sugarcanebagasse as well as untreated sugarcane bagasse.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic of an acid-catalyzed aqueous glycerolpretreatment biorefinery process.

FIG. 7 shows graphs of the kinetics of enzymatic hydrolysis ofpretreated sugarcane bagasse carried out at the pilot plant scale.

FIG. 8 shows graphs comparing (a) the enzymatic digestibility ofdifferent pretreatments, (b) the amount of inhibitors present afterdifferent pretreatments, and (c) the temperatures at which differentpretreatments are carried out.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The terminology used in the description of the invention herein is forthe purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is notintended to be limiting of the invention.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will befurther understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly useddictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the present applicationand relevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overlyformal sense unless expressly so defined herein. The terminology used inthe description of the invention herein is for the purpose of describingparticular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of theinvention. All publications, patent applications, patents and otherreferences mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

As used in the description of the invention and the appended claims, thesingular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the pluralforms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

Also as used herein, “and/or” refers to and encompasses any and allpossible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items, aswell as the lack of combinations when interpreted in the alternative(“or”).

Unless the context indicates otherwise, it is specifically intended thatthe various features of the invention described herein can be used inany combination.

Moreover, the present invention also contemplates that in someembodiments of the invention, any feature or combination of features setforth herein can be excluded or omitted. To illustrate, if thespecification states that a complex comprises components A, B and C, itis specifically intended that any of A, B or C, or a combinationthereof, can be omitted and disclaimed.

As used herein, the transitional phrase “consisting essentially of” (andgrammatical variants) is to be interpreted as encompassing the recitedmaterials or steps “and those that do not materially affect the basicand novel characteristic(s)” of the claimed invention. See, In re Herz,537 F.2d 549, 551-52, 190 U.S.P.Q. 461, 463 (CCPA 1976) (emphasis in theoriginal); see also MPEP §2111.03. Thus, the term “consistingessentially of” as used herein should not be interpreted as equivalentto “comprising.”

The term “about,” as used herein when referring to a measurable valuesuch as an amount or concentration (e.g., the amount of polyol(s) in thepretreatment solution) and the like, is meant to encompass variations of20%, 10%, 5%, 1%, 0.5%, or even 0.1% of the specified amount.

The present invention relates to pretreatment solutions forlignocellulosic material and methods for hydrolyzing lignocellulosicmaterial that can subsequently be used to produce fermentable sugars.

“Lignocellulosic” or “lignocellulose”, as used herein, refer to materialcomprising lignin and/or cellulose. Lignocellulosic material can alsocomprise hemicellulose, xylan, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, such asstarches and/or sugars, or any combination thereof. Lignocellulosicmaterial can be derived from living or previously living plant material(e.g., lignocellulosic biomass). “Biomass,” as used herein, refers toany lignocellulosic material and can be used as an energy source.

Lignocellulosic material (e.g., lignocellulosic biomass) can be derivedfrom a single material or a combination of materials and/or can benon-modified and/or modified. Lignocellulosic material can be transgenic(i.e., genetically modified). “Transgenic”, as used herein, refers to aplant into which a transgene has been delivered or introduced and thetransgene can be expressed in the transgenic plant to produce a product,the presence of which can impart an effect and/or a phenotype in theplant. The term “transgene” as used herein, refers to any nucleic acidsequence used in the transformation of a plant. Thus, a transgene can bea coding sequence, a non-coding sequence, a cDNA, a gene or fragment orportion thereof, a genomic sequence, a regulatory element and the like.In some embodiments of the present invention, the lignocellulosicmaterial is a transgenic plant or transgenic plant material thatexpresses or expressed exogenous enzymes.

Lignocellulose is generally found, for example, in the fibers, pulp,stems, leaves, hulls, canes, husks, and/or cobs of plants or fibers,leaves, branches, bark, and/or wood of trees and/or bushes. Exemplarylignocellulosic materials include, but are not limited to, agriculturalbiomass, e.g., farming and/or forestry material and/or residues,branches, bushes, canes, forests, grains, grasses, short rotation woodycrops, herbaceous crops, and/or leaves; energy crops, e.g., corn,millet, and/or soybeans; energy crop residues; paper mill residues;sawmill residues; municipal paper waste; orchard prunings; chaparral;wood waste; logging waste; forest thinning; short-rotation woody crops;bagasse, such as sugar cane bagasse and/or sorghum bagasse, duckweed;wheat straw; oat straw; rice straw; barley straw; rye straw; flax straw;soy hulls; rice hulls; rice straw; tobacco; corn gluten feed; oat hulls;corn kernel; fiber from kernels; corn stover; corn stalks; corn cobs;corn husks; canola; miscanthus; energy cane; prairie grass; gamagrass;foxtail; sugar beet pulp; citrus fruit pulp; seed hulls; lawn clippings;cotton, seaweed; trees; shrubs; wheat; wheat straw; products and/orby-products from wet or dry milling of grains; yard waste; plant and/ortree waste products; herbaceous material and/or crops; forests; fruits;flowers; needles; logs; roots; saplings; shrubs; switch grasses;vegetables; fruit peels; vines; wheat midlings; oat hulls; hard and softwoods; or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, thelignocellulosic material has been processed by a processor selected fromthe group consisting of a dry grind ethanol production facility, a paperpulping facility, a tree harvesting operation, a sugar cane factory, orany combination thereof. In other embodiments of this invention, thelignocellulosic material is bagasse.

The methods of the present invention can comprise, consist essentiallyof, or consist of pretreating the lignocellulosic material (e.g.,biomass) with a pretreatment solution of the present invention.“Pretreating”, “pretreatment” and any grammatical variants thereof, asused herein refers to treating, contacting, soaking, suspending,immersing, saturating, dipping, wetting, rinsing, washing, submerging,and/or any variation and/or combination thereof, the lignocellulosicmaterial with a pretreatment solution of the present invention.

The pretreating step can be performed or carried out at a temperaturefrom about 40° C. to about 150° C. or any range therein, such as, butnot limited to, about 40° C. to about 90° C., about 50° C. to about 100°C., about 60° C. to about 90° C., about 80° C. to about 150° C., about90° C. to about 130° C., or about 100° C. to about 130° C. In particularembodiments, the pretreatment step is carried out at a temperature ofabout 40° C., 41° C., 42° C., 43° C., 44° C., 45° C., 46° C., 47° C.,48° C., 49° C., 50° C., 51° C., 52° C., 53° C., 54° C., 55° C., 56° C.,57° C., 58° C., 59° C., 60° C., 61° C., 62° C., 63° C., 64° C., 65° C.,66° C., 67° C., 68° C., 69° C., 70° C., 71° C., 72° C., 73° C., 74° C.,75° C., 76° C., 77° C., 78° C., 79° C., 80° C., 81° C., 82° C., 83° C.,84° C., 85° C., 86° C., 87° C., 88° C., 89° C., 90° C., 91° C., 92° C.,93° C., 94° C., 95° C., 96° C., 97° C., 98° C., 99° C., 100° C., 101°C., 102° C., 103° C., 104° C., 105° C., 106° C., 107° C., 108° C., 109°C., 110° C., 111° C., 112° C., 113° C., 114° C., 115° C., 116° C., 117°C., 118° C., 119° C., 120° C., 121° C., 122° C., 123° C., 124° C., 125°C., 126° C., 127° C., 128° C., 129° C., 130° C., 131° C., 132° C., 133°C., 134° C., 135° C., 136° C., 137° C., 138° C., 139° C., 140° C., 141°C., 142° C., 143° C., 144° C., 145° C., 146° C., 147° C., 148° C., 149°C., 150° C., or any range therein. In some embodiments of the presentinvention, the pretreatment step is carried out at a temperature ofabout 130° C. In other embodiments of the present invention, thepretreatment step is carried out at a temperature from about 40° C. toabout 90° C.

The pretreating step can be performed or carried out for a period oftime from about 1 minute to about 120 minutes or any range therein, suchas, but not limited to, about 5 minutes to about 100 minutes, or about15 minutes to about 60 minutes. In particular embodiments, thepretreatment step is carried out for a period of time of about 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58,59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76,77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94,95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109,110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120 minutes, or anyrange therein. In certain embodiments of the present invention, thepretreatment step is carried out for a period of time of about 60minutes.

Lignocellulosic biomass loading (i.e. the lignocellulosic material topretreatment, solution ratio) can be from about 0.1% to about 60% or anyrange therein, such as, but not limited to, about 5% to about 40%, orabout 5% to about 20% by weight of the pretreatment solution. Inparticular embodiments, the lignocellulosic biomass loading is about0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, 0.5%, 0.6%, 0.7%, 0.8%, 0.9%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%,5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9%, 10%, 11%, 12%, 13%, 14%, 15%, 16%, 17%, 18%, 19%,20%, 21%, 22%, 23%, 24%, 25%, 26%, 27%, 28%, 29%, 30%, 31%, 32%, 33%,34%, 35%, 36%, 37%, 38%, 39%, 40%, 41%, 42%, 43%, 44%, 45%, 46%, 47%,48%, 49%, 50%, 51%, 52%, 53%, 54%, 55%, 56%, 57%, 58%, 59%, 60%, or anyrange therein, by weight of the pretreatment solution. In certainembodiments of the present invention, the lignocellulosic biomassloading is about 10% by weight of the pretreatment solution.

In representative embodiments of the present invention, a pretreatmentsolution of the present invention can comprise, consist essentially of,or consist of a polyol, an alkylene carbonate, an acid catalyst, water,or any combination thereof. Exemplary polyols include, but are notlimited to, 1,2-propanediol, 1,3-propanediol, glycerol, 2,3-butanediol,1,3-butanediol, 2-methyl-1,3-propanediol, 1,2-pentanediol,1,3-pentanediol, 1,4-pentanediol, 1,5-pentanedial,2,2-dimethyl-1,3-propanediol, 2-methyl-1,4-butanediol,2-methyl-1,3-butanediol, 1,1,1-trimethylolethane,3-methyl-1,5-pentanediol, 1,1,1-trimethylolpropane, 1,7-heptanediol,2-ethyl-1,6-hexanediol, 1,9-nonanediol, 1,11-undecanediol, diethyleneglycol, triethylene glycol, oligoethylene glycol, 2,2′-thiodiglycol,diglycols or polyglycols prepared from 1,2-propylene oxide, propyleneglycol, ethylene glycol, sorbitol, dibutylene glycol, tributyleneglycol, tetrabutylene glycol, dihexylene ether glycol, trihexylene etherglycol, tetrahexylene ether glycol, 1,4-cyclohexanediol,1,3-cyclohexanediol, or any combination thereof. In particularembodiments of the present invention, the polyol is glycerol and/orethylene glycol.

A polyol can be present in pure (e.g., refined) or impure (e.g., crudeor purified crude) form. In certain embodiments of the presentinvention, a polyol has a purity of about 70% to about 99.9% or anyrange therein, such as, but not limited to, about 80% to about 99.9%, orabout 80% to about 97%. In particular embodiments of the presentinvention, the purity of a′ polyol is about 70%, 71%, 72%, 73%, 74%,75%, 76%, 77%, 78%, 79%, 80%, 81%, 82%, 83%, 84%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%,89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, 99.1%, 99.2%,99.3%, 99.4%, 99.5%, 99.6%, 99.7%, 99.8%, 99.9%, or any range therein.Purity forms or grades (e.g., refined, crude, or purified crude) of apolyol can be, but are not limited to, purity grades produced asby-products from biodiesel production processes. In particularembodiments of the present invention, a polyol is in pure form (e.g.,having, a purity of 99% or more) and in other embodiments a polyol is incrude form (e.g., having a purity of from about 7.0% to about 98%).

In some embodiments of the present invention, one or more polyols can bepresent in the pretreatment solutions of the present invention. Forexample, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or more polyols can be present in thepretreatment solutions of the present invention. A polyol can be presentin the pretreatment solution in an amount from about 1% to about 99% byweight of the pretreatment solution or any range therein, such as, butnot limited to, about 1% to about 80%, about 10% to about 50%, about 15%to about 35%, about 20% to about 99%, about 40% to about 99%, or about80% to about 97% by weight of the pretreatment solution. In particularembodiments of the present invention, a polyol is present in thepretreatment solution in an amount of about 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%,8%, 9%, 10%, 11%, 12%, 13%, 14%05%, 16%, 17%, 18%, 19%, 20%, 21%, 22%,23%, 24%, 25%, 26%, 27%, 28%, 29%, 30%, 31%, 32%, 33%, 34%, 35%, 3.6%,37%, 38%, 39%, 40%, 41%, 42%, 43%, 44%, 45%, 46%, 47%, 48%, 49%, 0.50%,51%, 52%, 53%, 54%, 55%, 56%, 57%, 58%, 59%, 60%, 61%, 62%, 63%, 64%,65%, 66%, 67%, 68%, 69%, 70%, 71%, 72%, 73%, 74%, 75%, 76%, 77%, 78%,79%, 80%, 81%, 82%, 83%, 84%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%,93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, or any range therein, by weight ofthe pretreatment solution. In certain embodiments of the presentinvention, a polyol is present in an amount from about 80% to about 99%by weight of the pretreatment solution.

In some embodiments of the present invention, one or more acid catalystscan be present in the pretreatment solutions of the present invention.For example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or more acid catalyst(s) can be present inthe pretreatment solutions of the present invention. An acid catalystcan be present in the pretreatment solution in an amount from about 0.1%to about 10.0% or any range therein such as, but not, limited to, about0.1% to about 5%, about 0.1% to about 1.5%, or about 1% to about 3.0% byweight of the pretreatment solution. In particular embodiments of thepresent invention, an acid catalyst is present in the pretreatmentsolution in an amount of about 0.1%, 0.2%, 03%, 0.4%, 0.5%, 0.6%, 0.7%,0.8%, 0.9%, 1%, 1.2%, 1.5%, 1.75%, 2%, 2.25%, 2.5%, 2.75%, 3%, 3.25%,3.5%, 3.75%, 4%, 4.25%, 4.5%, 4.75%, 5%, 5.25%, 5.5%, 5.75%, 6%, 6.25%,6.5%, 6.75%, 7%, 7.25%, 7.5%, 7.75%, 8%, 8.25%, 8.5%, 8.75%, 9%, 9.25%,9.5%, 9.75%, 10%, or any range therein, by weight of the pretreatmentsolution. In certain embodiments of the present invention, an acidcatalyst is present in an amount of about 0.5% to about 2% by weight ofthe pretreatment solution.

“Acid catalyst”, as used herein refers to various water-solublecompounds with a pH of less than 7 that can be reacted with a base toform a salt. Exemplary acid catalysts can be monoprotic or polyproticand can comprise one, two, three, or more acid functional groups.Exemplary acid catalysts include, but are not limited to, mineral acids,Lewis acids, acidic metal salts, organic acids, solid acids, inorganicacids, or any combination thereof. Specific acid catalysts include, butare not limited to hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid,hydrofluoric acid, hydrobromic acid, hydroiodic acid, nitric acid,formic acid, acetic acid, methanesulfonic acid, toluene-sulfonic acid,boron trifluoride diethyletherate, scandium (III)trifluoromethanesulfonate, titanium (IV) isopropoxide, tin (IV)chloride, zinc (II) bromide, iron (II) chloride, iron (III) chloride,zinc (II) chloride, copper (I) chloride, copper (I) bromide, copper (II)chloride, copper (II) bromide, aluminum chloride, chromium (II)chloride, chromium (III) chloride, vanadium (III) chloride, molybdenum(III) chloride, palladium (II) chloride, platinum (II) chloride,platinum (IV) chloride, ruthenium chloride, rhodium (III) chloride,zeolites, activated zeolites, or any combination thereof. In certainembodiments, the acid catalyst is hydrochloric acid.

Water can optionally be present in the pretreatment solution in anamount from about 0% to about 80% or any range therein, such as, but notlimited to, about 1% to about 60% or about 1% to about 20% by weight ofthe pretreatment solution. In particular embodiments of the presentinvention, water is present in the pretreatment solution in an amount ofabout 0%, 1%, 0.2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9%, 10%, 11%, 12%, 13%, 14%,15%, 16%, 17%, 18%, 19%, 20%, 21%, 22%, 23%, 24%, 25%, 26%, 27%, 28%,29%, 30%, 31%, 32%, 33%, 34%, 35%, 36%, 37%, 38%, 39%, 40%, 41%, 42%,43%, 44%, 45%, 46%, 47%, 48%, 49%, 50%, 51%, 52%, 53%, 54%, 55%, 56%,57%, 58%, 59%, 60%, 61%, 62%, 63%, 64%, 65%, 66%, 67%, 68%, 69%, 70%,71%, 72%, 73%, 74%, 75%, 76%, 77%, 78%, 79%, 80%, or any range therein,by weight of the pretreatment solution. In certain embodiments, water ispresent in an amount from about 5% to about 20% by weight of thepretreatment solution.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a pretreatment solution ofthe present invention comprises an alkylene carbonate. Exemplaryalkylene carbonates include, but are not limited to, ethylene carbonate,propylene carbonate, and/or 1,2-butylene carbonate. An alkylenecarbonate can be present in a pretreatment solution of the presentinvention in an amount from about 30% to about 99% by weight of thepretreatment solution or any range therein, such as, but not limited to,about 40% to about 99%, about 55% to about 99%, about 70% to about 99%,about 80% to about 99%, about 90% to about 99%, or about 95% to about99% by weight of the pretreatment solution. In particular embodiments ofthe present invention, an alkylene carbonate is present in thepretreatment solution in an amount of about 30%, 31%, 32%, 33%, 34%,35%, 36%, 37%, 38%, 39%, 40%, 41%, 42%, 43%, 44%, 45%, 46%, 47%, 48%,49%, 50%, 51%, 52%, 53%, 54%, 55%, 56%, 57%, 58%, 59%, 60%, 61%, 62%,63%, 64%, 65%, 66%, 67%, 68%, 69%, 70%, 71%, 72%, 73%, 74%, 75%, 76%,77%, 78%, 79%, 80%, 81%, 82%, 83%, 84%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%,91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, or any range therein, byweight of the pretreatment solution. In certain embodiments of thepresent invention, an alkylene carbonate is present in an amount fromabout 95% to about 99% by weight of the pretreatment solution.

In certain embodiments of the present invention, a pretreatment solutionof the present invention comprises, consists essentially of, or consistsof an alkylene carbonate, an acid, and optionally water. In someembodiments, a pretreatment solution of the present invention comprisesabout 40% to about 99% by weight alkylene carbonate, about 0.1% to about2% acid, and optionally about 0% to about 5% water.

In other embodiments of the present invention, a pretreatment solutionof the present invention comprises, consists essentially of, or consistsof an alkylene carbonate, a polyol, an acid, and optionally water. Insome embodiments of the present invention, an alkylene carbonate and apolyol can be present in a pretreatment solution of the presentinvention in a ratio from about 0.1:1 to about 10:1 (alkylenecarbonate:polyol) or any range therein, such as, but not limited to,from about 0.5:1 to about 5:1, about 1:1 to about 8:1, about 1:5 toabout 1:10, or about 1:1 to about 4:1. In certain embodiments of thepresent invention, an alkylene carbonate and a polyol can be present ina pretreatment solution in a ratio of about 0.1:1, 0.5:1, 1:1, 1.5:1,2:1, 2.5:1, 3:1, 3.5:1, 4:1, 4.5:1, 5:1, 5.5:1, 6:1 (alkylenecarbonate:polyol), or any range therein. In some embodiments of thepresent invention, a pretreatment solution of the present invention cancomprise about 1% to about 70% by weight polyol, about 30% to about 99%alkylene carbonate, about 0.1% to about 5% acid, and about 0.1% to about20% water. In some embodiments of the present invention, a pretreatmentsolution of the present invention comprises about 40% to about 99% byweight alkylene carbonate, about 10% to about 60% by weight polyol,about 0.1% to about 2% acid, and about 0.1% to about 5% water. Incertain embodiments of the present invention, a polyol comprisesethylene glycol and an alkylene carbonate comprises ethylene carbonate.

The pretreatment step can result in the hydrolysis and/or break down ofthe lignocellulosic material. “Hydrolysis”, as used herein, refers tothe cleavage or breakage of the chemical bonds that hold thelignocellulosic material together. For instance, hydrolysis can include,but is not limited to, the breaking or cleaving of glycosidic bonds thatlink saccharides (i.e., sugars) together, and is also known assaccharification. Lignocellulosic material, in some embodiments, cancomprise cellulose and/or hemicellulose. Cellulose is a glucan, which isa polysaccharide. Polysaccharides are polymeric compounds that are madeup of repeating units of saccharides monosaccharides or disaccharaides)that are linked together by glycosidic bonds. The repeating units ofsaccharides can be the same (i.e., homogenous) to result in ahomopolysaceharide or cats be different (i.e., heterogeneous) to resultin a heteropolysaccharide. Cellulose can undergo hydrolysis to formcellodextrins (i.e., shorter polysaccharide units compared to thepolysaccharide units before the hydrolysis reaction) and/or glucose(i.e. a monosaccharide). Hemicellulose is a heteropolysaccharide and caninclude polysaccharides, including, but not limited to, xylan,glucuronoxylan, arabinoxylan, glucomannan and xyloglucan. Hemicellulosecan undergo hydrolysis to form shorter polysaccharide units, and/ormonosaccharides, including, but not limited to, pentose sugars, xylose,mannose, glucose, galactose, rhamnose, arabinose, or any combinationthereof.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the pretreatment steppartially hydrolyzes the lignocellulosic material. “Partial hydrolysis”or “partially hydrolyzes” and any grammatical variants thereof, as usedherein, refer to the hydrolysis reaction cleaving or breaking less than100% of the chemical bonds that hold the lignocellulosic materialtogether. In other embodiments of the present invention, the hydrolysisreaction cleaves or breaks less than 100% of the glycosidic bonds of thecellulose and/or hemicellulose present in the lignocellulosic material.In some embodiments, the partial hydrolysis reaction can convert lessthan about 20%, 15%, 10%, or 5% of the cellulose into glucose. Infurther embodiments of this invention, the partial hydrolysis reactioncan convert less than about 20%, 15%, 10%, or 5% of the hemicelluloseinto monosaccharides. Exemplary monosaccharides include but are notlimited to, xylose, glucose, mannose, galactose, rhamnose, andarabinose. In some embodiments, the partial hydrolysis reaction canresult in the recovery of greater than about 80%, 85%, 90%, or 95% ofthe glucan present in the pretreated lignocellulosic material comparedto the amount of glucan present in the lignocellulosic material beforepretreatment. In some embodiments of the present invention, the partialhydrolysis reaction can result in the recovery of less than about 40%,35%, 30%, 25%, 20%, 15%, 10%, or 5% of the xylan in the pretreatedlignocellulosic material compared to the amount of xylan present in thelignocellulosic material before pretreatment.

In particular embodiments of the present invention, the production ofundesirable products from lignocellulosic material as a result of thepretreatment step is reduced compared to other processes for thetreatment of lignocellulosic material. As used herein, the terms“reduce,” “reduces,” “reduced,” “reduction” and similar terms refer to adecrease of at least about 5%, 10%, 25%, 35%, 50%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%,95%, 97% or more. Exemplary undesirable products include furfural,acetic acid, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), formic acid, and glycerolchlorination products, including, but not limited to,3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD), 2-monochloropropane-1,3-diol(2-MCPD), 1,3-dichloropropane-2-ol (1,3-DCP) and1,2-dichloropropane-3-ol (1,2-DCP). In some embodiments, the undesirableproduct is at a concentration in the pretreatment solution, filtrateand/or hydrolysate of less than about 20 g/kg, 15 g/kg, 10 g/kg, 5 g/kg,1 g/kg, 0.5 g/kg, or 0.25 g/kg and is thus reduced compared to otherprocesses for treating lignocellulosic material. In other embodiments,the undesirable product is at a concentration in the pretreatmentsolution, filtrate and/or hydrolysate of less than about 0.25, 0.5, 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 g/kg,or any range therein, and is thus reduced compared to other processesfor treating lignocellulosic material.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the pretreatment step canbreak down and/or remove the lignin present in the lignocellulosicmaterial. Lignin, in some embodiments, can be removed from thelignocellulosic material by hydrolysis of the chemical bonds that holdthe lignocellulosic material together. Accordingly, in some embodimentsof the present invention, the pretreatment step can result in theremoval of about 80% or less (e.g., about 80%, 75%, 70%, 65%, 60%, 55%,50%, 45%, 40%, 35%, 30%, 25%, 20%, etc.) or any range therein of thelignin in the pretreated lignocellulosic material compared to the amountof lignin present in the lignocellulosic material prior to thepretreating step. In some embodiments, the pretreatment step can resultin the recovery of about 20% or more (e.g., about 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%,40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, etc.) or any range thereinof the lignin in the pretreated lignocellulosic material compared to theamount of lignin present in the lignocellulosic material prior to thepretreating step.

In other embodiments of the present invention, the pretreatment step canaffect the structure of the lignocellulosic material. For instance, thepretreatment step can result in the dissociation of fibers in thelignocellulosic material, increase the porosity of the lignocellulosicmaterial, increase the specific surface area of the lignocellulosicmaterial, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, thepretreatment step reduces the crystallinity of the cellulose structureby, for example, changing a portion of the cellulose from a crystallinestate to an amorphous state.

The pretreatment step, in some embodiments of this invention, can makethe pretreated lignocellulosic material more susceptible to enzymaticdigestion compared to lignocellulosic material not subjected to a,pretreatment step described herein. Thus, in some embodiments of thepresent invention, enzymatic digestion of the pretreated lignocellulosicmaterial can be increased by two, three, four, five, six, seven, eightor more times compared to the enzymatic digestion of lignocellulosicmaterial not pretreated with the pretreatment solution as describedherein.

In further embodiments of the present invention, after treatment of thelignocellulosic material with the pretreatment solution as describedherein, the lignocellulosic material can be separated from thepretreatment solution by any means known to those skilled in the art. Amethod of separating the lignocellulosic material from the pretreatmentsolution can include, but is not limited to, vacuum filtration, membranefiltration, sieve filtration, partial or coarse separation, or anycombination thereof. The separating step can produce a liquid portion(i.e., filtrate or hydrolysate) and a solid residue portion (i.e., thepretreated lignocellulosic material). In some embodiments of the presentinvention, water is added to the pretreated lignocellulosic materialbefore and/or after separation. Thus, in some embodiments, thepretreated lignocellulosic material can optionally include thepretreatment solution and/or by-products from the pretreatment process,such as, but not limited to, polyol(s), glycerol residue, acid(s), andproducts produced from the pretreatment process.

Optionally, after pretreatment of the lignocellulosic material with thepretreatment solution, as described herein, the pretreatedlignocellulosic material can be washed with a post-pretreatment washsolution. A post-pretreatment wash solution can comprise a basicsolution and/or an organic solvent. A basic solution can have a pH ofabout pH 8 or greater (e.g., about pH 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, or 14). Inparticular embodiments, the pH of a basic solution is about pH 10 orgreater or about pH 12 or greater. A basic solution can comprisealkaline chemicals, such as, but not limited to, sodium hydroxide,potassium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide, and basic salts such as, butnot limited to, sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate. Theconcentration of the alkaline chemical in the basic solution can be fromabout 0.0002% to about 12% by weight of the basic solution or any rangetherein, such as, but not limited to from about 0.002 to about 10%,about 0.02 to about 5%, or about 0.01 to about 0.5% by weight of thebasic solution. In particular embodiments, the concentration of thealkaline chemical in the basic solution is about 0.2% by weight of thebasic solution. In some embodiments of the present invention, apost-pretreatment wash solution comprises an organic solvent. Exemplaryorganic solvents for a post-pretreatment wash solution include, but arenot limited, an alcohol, such as methanol and/or ethanol, acetone,and/or 1,4-dioxane.

A post-pretreatment wash can be carried out at a temperature from about0° C. to about 100° C. or any range therein, such as, but not limitedto, from about 0.5° C. to about 80° C., about 5° C. to about 40° C., orabout 15° C. to about 35° C. In particular embodiments, thepost-pretreatment wash is carried out at about room temperature (i.e.,about 25° C.).

In some embodiments of the present invention, a post-pretreatment washwith a post-pretreatment wash solution can be carried out before and/orafter the pretreated lignocellulosic material is optionally washed withwater. According to some embodiments of the present invention, thepretreated lignocellulosic material can be washed with water and/or apost-pretreatment wash solution one or more times, such as 2, 3, 4, ormore times. In certain embodiments of the present invention, thepretreated lignocellulosic material can be washed with a basic solutionafter pretreatment. In other embodiments of the present invention, thepretreated lignocellulosic material can be washed with water one or moretimes after pretreatment, then the pretreated lignocellulosic materialis washed with a basic solution one or more times, followed byoptionally washing the pretreated lignocellulosic material with waterone or more times. In some embodiments of the present invention, thepretreated lignocellulosic material can be washed with an organicsolvent one or more times, then washed with water one or more times. Infurther embodiments of the present invention, after the one or morewater and/or post-pretreatment wash solution washes, the pretreatedlignocellulosic material can be separated from the water and/orpost-pretreatment wash solution via methods such as, but not limited to,vacuum filtration, membrane filtration, sieve filtration, partial orcoarse separation, or any combination thereof.

In certain embodiments of the present invention, a post-pretreatmentwash with a post-pretreatment wash solution removes lignin present inthe pretreated lignocellulosic material. In particular embodiments, apost-pretreatment wash with a post-pretreatment wash solution removesresidual lignin present in the pretreated lignocellulosic material. Theresidual lignin can, in some embodiments, be present in the pretreatedlignocellulosic material as a result of lignin condensing on thepretreated lignocellulosic material during and/or after pretreatmentwith a pretreatment solution of the present invention. In someembodiments of the present invention, the lignin present in thepretreated lignocellulosic material can be dissolved and/or removed bywashing the pretreated lignocellulosic material with a post-pretreatmentwash solution.

In some embodiments of the present invention, after pretreatment, thewash with a post-pretreatment wash solution can result in the removal ofabout 25% or more of lignin as compared to the lignin present inuntreated lignocellulosic material (i.e., lignocellulosic material nottreated with a pretreatment solution of the present invention and/or nottreated with a post-pretreatment wash solution of the presentinvention). In certain embodiments of the present invention, afterpretreatment, a wash with a post-pretreatment wash solution can resultin the removal of about 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, or more, orany range therein, of lignin compared to the lignin present in untreatedlignocellulosic material. In particular embodiments of the presentinvention, after pretreatment, a wash with a post-pretreatment washsolution can result in the removal of about 25% to about 50%, or anyrange therein, of lignin as compared to the lignin present in untreated,lignocellulosic material. Thus, in some embodiments, after apretreatment and/or a post-pretreatment wash as described herein, theamount of lignin removed from the lignocellulosic material (i.e., thesum of the lignin removed from a pretreatment with a pretreatmentsolution of the present invention and a post-pretreatment wash with apost-pretreatment wash solution of the present invention) is about 60%or more, such as about 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, or morecompared to the lignin present in untreated lignocellulosic material. Incertain embodiments, pretreatment with a pretreatment solution of thepresent invention and post-pretreatment with a post-pretreatment washsolution of the present invention removes about 65% of the ligninpresent in the lignocellulosic material prior to pretreatment andpost-pretreatment. In certain embodiments of the present invention, thepost-pretreatment wash solution is a basic solution

Optionally, a post-pretreatment wash solution can be collected afterwashing the pretreated lignocellulosic material. In some embodiments ofthe present invention, the collected post-pretreatment wash solution isa basic solution that can be used to recover lignin by adjusting the pHof the collected basic solution to an acidic pH (i.e., a pH of less thanabout 7) with an acid salt or acid, such as, but not limited to,hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and phosphoric acid. Incertain embodiments of the present invention, the pH of the collectedbasic solution is adjusted to a pH of about 1 to about 7 or any rangetherein, such as, but not limited to, about 1.5 to about 6.5 or about 2to about 5. In some embodiments of the present invention, thetemperature at which lignin is recovered can be from about 0° C. toabout 90° C. or any range therein, such as, but not limited to, about 5°C. to about 70° or about 5° C. to about 40° C. The lignin can berecovered by precipitating the lignin from the collected basic solutionand can be collected by filtration, such as, but not limited to, vacuumfiltration, membrane filtration, sieve filtration, partial or coarseseparation, or any combination thereof. The recovered lignin can be usedfor the production of a valuable product, such as, but not limited to, acombustion energy product, a phenol substitute in phenolic resins, apolymer additive, a construction material, or any combination thereof.

Without being bound to a particular theory, it is believed that thepresence of lignin in the pretreated lignocellulosic material negativelyaffects the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose due to non-productiveadsorption of the enzymes, such as cellulase, by lignin. Non-productiveadsorption of the enzymes by lignin is believed to reduce the actualamount of the enzyme available for enzymatic hydrolysis. Thus, it isbelieved that by further removal of lignin present in the pretreatedlignocellulosic material can improve the rate of enzymatic hydrolysisand reduce the amount of enzyme utilized in the enzymatic hydrolysis.The filtrate or hydrolysate can be collected after and/or duringseparation for use in pretreating additional lignocellulosic material(i.e., recycling of the filtrate/hydrolysate). The filtrate orhydrolysate can be collected and reused two, three, four, or more times.Additional components can optionally be added to the recycled solution,including but not limited to, additional water, acid catalyst(s),polyol(s), or any combination thereof. In some embodiments of thepresent invention, water is added to the recycled solution.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a pretreatedlignocellulosic material can be subject to further processingconditions, such as, but not limited to, steam explosion.

In other embodiments of the present invention, the lignocellulosicmaterial is treated with an aqueous acid solution prior to treatmentwith the pretreatment solution of the present invention (i.e.,pre-pretreatment). An aqueous acid solution can comprise, consistessentially of, or consist of mineral acids, Lewis acids, acidic metalsalts, organic acids, solid acids, inorganic acids, or any combinationthereof. One or more acids (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or more acids) can bepresent in the aqueous acid solution, and the acid(s) can be monoproticor polyprotic and can comprise one, two, three, or more acid functionalgroups. Exemplary acids include, but are not limited to hydrochloricacid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, hydrofluoric acid, hydrobromicacid, hydroiodic acid, nitric acid, formic acid, acetic acid,methanesulfonic acid, toluenesulfonic acid, boron trifluoridediethyletherate, scandium (III) trifluoromethanesulfonate, titanium (IV)isopropoxide, tin (IV) chloride, zinc (II) bromide, iron (II) chloride,iron (III) chloride, zinc (II) chloride, copper (I) chloride, copper (I)bromide, copper (II) chloride, copper (H) bromide, aluminum chloride,chromium (II) chloride, chromium (III) chloride, vanadium (III)chloride, molybdenum (III) chloride, palladium (II) chloride, platinum(II) chloride, platinum (IV) chloride, ruthenium (III) chloride, rhodium(III) chloride, zeolites, activated zeolites, or any combinationthereof. In certain embodiments, the acid in the aqueous acid solutionis hydrochloric acid.

In some embodiments of this invention, the acid(s) can be present in theaqueous acid solution in an amount from about 0.1% to about 5.0% or anyrange therein, such as, but not limited to, about 0.1% to about 2.5% byweight of the acid solution. Thus, in some embodiments of the presentinvention, the acid(s) can be present in the acid solution in an amountof about 0.1%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, 1%, 1.2%, 1.5%, 1.75%, 2%, 2.25%,2.5%, 2.75%, 3%, 3.25%, 3.5%, 3.75%, 4%, 4.25%, 4.5%, 4.75%, 5%, or anyrange therein.

Another aspect of the present invention, provides a method of contactinga pretreated lignocellulosic material with at least one enzyme or anenzyme composition comprising at least one enzyme. In some embodiments,a pretreated lignocellulosic material can include the pretreatmentsolution and/or by-products from the pretreatment process, such as, butnot limited to, polyol(s), glycerol residue, acid(s), and productsproduced from the pretreatment process. In certain embodiments, a methodof the present invention can increase the enzymatic digestibility of apretreated lignocellulosic material compared to the enzymaticdigestibility of untreated lignocellulosic material (i.e.,lignocellulosic material not treated as described herein). In someembodiments, a method of the present invention can increase enzymaticdigestibility of a pretreated lignocellulosic material by at least about2 times or 3 times compared to the enzymatic digestibility of untreatedlignocellulosic material.

An enzyme can be microbially produced and/or plant produced, and caninclude, but is not limited to, a cellulase, a hemicellulase, axylanase, a ligninase, a pectinase, a protease, an amylase, a catalase,a cutinase, a glucanase, a glucoamylase, a glucose isomerase, a lipase,a laccase, a phytase, a pullulanase, a xylose isomerase, or anycombination thereof. The enzyme compositions can be prepared as aliquid, slurry, solid or gel. In one aspect of the present invention,the enzyme is/was expressed by the lignocellulosic plant material andretains its functional activity after pretreatment of thelignocellulosic material with the pretreatment solution. Accordingly, insome embodiments of the present invention, no additional enzyme(s) arecontacted/added to the pretreated lignocellulosic material for enzymatichydrolysis.

In particular embodiments of the present invention, the enzyme is acellulase and/or xylanase. “Cellulase” or “cellulases”, as used herein,refer to an enzyme capable of hydrolyzing cellulose to glucose.Non-limiting examples of cellulases include mannanendo-1,4-β-mannosidase, 1,3-β-D-glucan glucanohydrolase, 1,3-β-glucanglucohydrolase, 1,3-1,4-β-D-glucan glucanohydrolase and 1,6-β-D-glucanglucanohydrolase.

“Xylanase” or “xylanases”, as used herein, refer to an enzyme capable ofat least hydrolyzing xylan to xylobiose and xylotriose. Exemplaryxylanases can be from a Dictyoglomus sp. including, but not limited to,Dictyoglomus thermophilum Rt46B.1. See, e.g., Gibbs et al. (1995) Appl.Environ. Microbiol. 61:4403-4408.

In some embodiments of the present invention, an enzyme can be ahigh-temperature (i.e., thermostable) and/or low-pH (i.e., acidophilic)tolerant enzyme. By “thermostable” or “thermotolerant” is meant that theenzyme retains at least about 70% activity at about 60° C. for 30minutes, at least about 65% activity at about 70° C. for 30 minutes, orat least about 60% activity at about 80° C. for 30 minutes.“Acidophilic”, as used herein, means that the enzyme retains about 60%to about 90% of its activity at pH 6, retains at least about 65%activity at pH 5.0, or retains at least about 60% activity at pH 4.0.

In some embodiments of the present invention, an enzyme can be a dualactivity enzyme. A “dual activity enzyme”, as used herein, refers to anenzyme having both xylanase and cellulase activity. The dual activityenzyme can be thermotolerant and/or acidophilic.

Additional nonlimiting examples of enzymes includeα-L-arabinofuranosidase, α-glucuronidase, acetyl mannan esterase, acetylxylan esterase, α-galactosidase, β-glucosidase, exoxylanase,β-1,4-xylosidase, endo-1,4-β-xylanase, endo-galactanase,endo-β-1,4-mannanase, 1,4-β-D-glucan cellobiohydrolase,endo-1,4-β-D-glucanase, β-glucosidase, endo-α-1,5-arabinanase,exo-β-1,4-mannosidase, cellobiohydrolases, endoglucanase,exo-β-1,4-xylosidase, feruloyl esterase, ferulic acid esterase,p-cumaric acid esterase, glucuronoxylan xylanohydrolase, xyloglucanendotransglycosylase, diarylpropane peroxidase, glucose oxidase, glyoxaloxidase, lignin peroxidase (LiP), manganese peroxidase, methanoloxidase, methanol oxidoreductase, phenol oxidase (laccase), phenolperoxidase, veratryl alcohol oxidase, pectolyase, pectozyme,polygalacturonase, asclepain, bromelain, caricain, chymopapain,collagenase, glycyl endopeptidase, pepsin, pronase, subtilisin,thermolysin or any combination thereof.

An enzyme can be provided as a partially or fully purified full-lengthenzyme, or active variants or fragments thereof, or can be provided asan enzyme-producing microorganism. Moreover, any of these enzymes can beprovided in an amount effective to hydrolyze their substrate (e.g., thepretreated lignocellulosic material, which can optionally include thepretreatment solution and/or by-products from the pretreatment process,such as, but not limited to, polyol(s), glycerol residue, acid(s), andproducts produced from the pretreatment process), such as in amountsfrom about 0.001% to about 50%, from about 0.01% to about 50%, fromabout 0.1% to about 50%, from about 1% to about 50%, from about 10% toabout 50%, from about 20% to about 50%, from about 30% to about 50%,from about 40% to about 50% by weight of the substrate, or more.

An enzyme composition also can include agents known to those of skill inthe art for use in processing lignocellulosic material (e.g., biomass)including, but not limited to, a chlorine, detergent, hypochlorite,hydrogen peroxide, oxalic acid, peracid, pH-regulating agent, trisodiumphosphate, sodium chlorite, sodium nitrate, surfactant, urea, buffer(s),and/or water.

Examples of detergents include, but are not limited to, anionic,cationic or neutral detergents such as Nonidet (N)P-40, sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS), sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), sulfobetaine,n-octylglucoside, deoxycholate, Triton® X-100 (Dow Chemical Co.;Midland, Mich.) and/or Tween® 20 (ICI Americas, Inc.; Bridgewater,N.J.).

Non-limiting examples of surfactants include a secondary alcoholethoxylate, a fatty alcohol ethoxylate, a nonylphenol ethoxylate, aphosphate ester of fatty alcohols, a polyoxyethylene ether, apolyethylene glycol, a polyoxyethylenated alkyl phenol, a stearic acidand/or a tridecyl ethoxylate.

Any of the agents can be provided as partially or fully purified.Moreover, any of these agents can be provided in an amount from about0.001% to about 50%, from about 0.01% to about 50%, from about 0.1% toabout 50%, from about 1% to about 50%, from about 10% to about 50%, fromabout 20% to about 50%, from about 30% to about 50%, from about 40% toabout 50% by weight of the substrate, or more.

An enzyme composition of the present invention also can include fungi orother enzyme producing microorganisms, especially ethanologenic and/orlignin-solubilizing microorganisms, that can aid in processing, breakingdown, and/or degrading lignocellulosic material. Non-limiting examplesof ethanologenic and/or lignin-solubilizing microorganisms includebacteria and yeast. See generally, Burchhardt & Ingram (1992) Appl.Environ. Microbial. 58:1128-1133; Dien et al. (1998) Enzyme Microb.Tech. 23:366-371; Keating et al. (2004) Enzyme Microb. Tech. 35:242-253;Lawford & Rousseau (1997) Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 63-65:221-241;Handbook on Bioethanol: Production and Utilization (Wyman ed., CRC Press1996); as well as U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2009/0246841and 2009/0286293; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,181. Such microorganisms canproduce enzymes that assist in processing lignocellulosic materialincluding, but not limited to, alcohol dehydrogenase, pyruvatedecarboxylase, transaldolase, transketolasepyruvate decarboxylase,xylose reductase, xylitol dehydrogenase or xylose isomerasexylulokinase. In some embodiments of the invention, the ethanologenicand/or lignin-solubilizing microorganisms include, but are not limitedto, members of the genera Candida, Erwinia, Escherichia, Klebsiella,Pichia, Saccharomyces, Streptomyces and Zymomonas. See, e.g., Dien(1998), supra; Ingrain & Conway (1988) Appl. Environ. Microbial.54:397-404; Jarboe et al. (2007) Adv. Biochem. Engin./Biotechnol.108:237-261; Keating et al. (2004) J. Indust. Microbiol. Biotech.31:235-244; Keating et al. (2006) Biotechnol. Bioeng. 93:1196-1206;Pasti et al. (1990) Appl. Environ. Microbial. 56:2213-2218; and Zhang etal. (1995) Science 267:240-243.

The methods of the present invention can further comprise contacting(e.g., fermenting) the pretreated lignocellulosic material, optionallyincluding the pretreatment solution and/or by-products from thepretreatment process (e.g., polyol(s), glycerol residue, acid(s), andproducts produced from the pretreatment process), with a microorganism,including, but not limited to, an ethanologenic bacteria, a yeast or acombination thereof. In some embodiments, the contacting can be at a pHin a range from about 2 to about 9. In further embodiments of thepresent invention, the pretreated lignocellulosic material can then beprocessed for the production of fermentable sugars and/or for biofuel(e.g., ethanol) production.

The compositions and methods described herein can be used to processlignocellulosic material (e.g., biomass) to many useful organicchemicals, fuels and products. For example, some commodity and specialtychemicals that can be produced from lignocellulosic material include,but are not limited to, acetone, acetate, butanediol, cis-muconic acid,ethanol, ethylene glycol, furfural, glycerol, glycine, lysine, organicacids (e.g., lactic acid), 1,3-propanediol, polyhydroxyalkanoates, andxylose. Likewise, animal feed and various food/beverages can be producedfrom lignocellulosic material. See generally, Lynd et al. (1999)Biotechnol. Prog. 15:777-793; Philippidis, “Cellulose bioconversiontechnology” pp 179-212 In: Handbook on Bioethanol: Production andUtilization, ed. Wyman (Taylor & Francis 1996); and Ryu & Mandels (1980)Enz. Microb. Technol. 2:91-102. Potential co-production benefits extendbeyond the synthesis of multiple organic products from fermentablecarbohydrate in lignocellulosic material. For example, lignin-richresidues remaining after processing can be converted to lignin-derivedchemicals or can be used for power production.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the compositions and/ormethods described herein can be used to produce a pulp, such as a highvalue pulp. The pulp produced using the compositions and/or methods ofthe present invention can be used for the production of variousmaterials and/or products, such as, but not limited to, paper, textile,and microcrystalline cellulose.

In particular embodiments, the methods of the present invention compriseenzymatically hydrolyzing the pretreated lignocellulosic material toproduce a fermentable sugar. “Fermentable sugar,” as used herein, refersto oligosaccharides and/or monosaccharides that can be used as a carbonsource by a microorganism in a fermentation process. Exemplaryfermentable sugars include glucose, xylose, arabinose, galactose,mannose, rhamnose, sucrose, fructose, or any combination thereof.

The fermentable sugars can be converted to useful value-addedfermentation products, non-limiting examples of which include aminoacids, such as lysine, methionine, tryptophan, threonine, and asparticacid; vitamins; pharmaceuticals; animal feed supplements; specialtychemicals; chemical feedstocks; plastics; solvents; fuels or otherorganic polymers; lactic acid; butanol and/or ethanol, including fuelethanol and/or fuel butanol; organic acids, including citric acid,succinic acid and maleic acid; and/or industrial enzymes, such asproteases, cellulases, amylases, glucanases, lactases, lipases, lyases,oxidoreductases, transferases and xylanases.

In some embodiments of the present invention, after enzymatic hydrolysisof the pretreated lignocellulosic material, the product(s) (e.g., afermentable sugar, ethanol, butanol, etc.) can be separated from theliquid, slurry, solid or gel. Polyol(s) and/or acid(s) can be collectedafter separation for use in pretreating and/or additional treatmentsteps (i.e., recycling of the polyol(s) and/or acid(s)).

The following examples are included to demonstrate various embodimentsof the invention and are not intended to be a detailed catalog of allthe different ways in which the present invention may be implemented orof all the features that may be added to the present invention. Personsskilled in the art will, appreciate that numerous variations andadditions to the various embodiments may be made without departing fromthe present invention. Hence, the following descriptions are intended toillustrate some particular embodiments of the invention, and not toexhaustively specify all permutations, combinations and variationsthereof.

EXAMPLES Example 1 Materials and Methods for Examples 2-13 BagassePretreatment and Sample Analysis

All bagasse samples in Examples 2-13 were prepared according to themethods described herein with the specific conditions, such as theconcentration of the components in the pretreatment solutions and thereaction conditions, provided in the specific Examples 2-13 below.

Air-dried depithed bagasse was ground and the material retained between0.25 mm and 0.50 mm sieve was collected. One gram (moisture content of5%) of the bagasse was mixed with 10 grams of the pretreatment solution,(e.g., water, acid catalyst, and glycerol). When glycerol was present inthe pretreatment solution, the purity grade of the glycerol wasanalytical grade (i.e., commercial glycerol) with a water content lessthan 0.5%. The mixture was stirred at 300 rpm and heated at theindicated temperature for a set time as set forth in each example. Afterpretreatment, the mixture was vacuum-filtered to produce a filtrate(i.e., hydrolysate) portion and a solid residue portion (i.e.,pretreated bagasse). A portion of the filtrate (i.e., hydrolysate) wasdiluted and neutralized by Na₂CO₃ and then analyzed for sugars by highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and using a RPM monosaccharidecolumn (Phenomenex). The portion of the hydrolysate that was notneutralized was analyzed for organic acids, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural(HMF), furfural and 3-monochloropropane-1,2-dial (3-MCPD) by HPLC usinga Aminex HPX 87H column (Bio-rad). The solid residue (i.e., pretreatedbagasse) was washed 4 times with 300 mL of distilled water and thenfiltered. The washed solid residue was kept at 2° C.-6° C. prior toenzymatic digestibility analysis.

A portion of the solid residue was freeze-dried for composition analysis(e.g., glucan, xylan and lignin) by the Laboratory Analytical Procedure(NREL, 2008). A further portion of the freeze-dried sample was analyzedby Fourier transform infra-red (FUR) spectroscopy and scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM).

The effects of various pretreatment conditions on the digestibility ofbagasse were examined in the following examples, including (a) acidtype, (b) acid concentration, (c) glycerol content, (d) reactiontemperature, and (e) pretreatment time.

Glucan/xylan/lignin content in pretreated bagasse residue was calculatedbased on the following formula:

${{Glucan}\text{/}{xylan}\text{/}{lignin}\mspace{14mu} {content}} = \frac{\begin{matrix}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucan}\text{/}{xylan}\text{/}{lignin}\mspace{14mu} {in}} \\{{pretreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse}\mspace{14mu} {residue} \times 100\%}\end{matrix}}{{Dry}\mspace{14mu} {weight}\mspace{14mu} {of}\mspace{14mu} {pretreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse}\mspace{14mu} {residue}}$

Glucan/xylan/lignin recovery was calculated based on the followingformula:

${{Glucan}\text{/}{xylan}\text{/}{lignin}\mspace{14mu} {recovery}} = \frac{\begin{matrix}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucan}\text{/}{xylan}\text{/}{lignin}\mspace{14mu} {in}} \\{{pretreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse}\mspace{14mu} {residue} \times 100\%}\end{matrix}}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucan}\text{/}{xylan}\text{/}{lignin}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {untreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse}}$

Glucose yield in hydrolysate was calculated based on the followingformula:

${{Glucose}\mspace{14mu} {yield}} = \frac{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucose}\mspace{14mu} {measured}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {hydrosylate} \times 100}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucan}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {untreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse} \times 1.111}$

Xylose yield in hydrolysate was calculated based on the followingformula:

${{Xylose}\mspace{14mu} {yield}} = \frac{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {xylose}\mspace{14mu} {measured}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {hydrosylate} \times 100\%}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {xylan}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {intreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse} \times 1.136}$

Furfural yield in hydrolysate was calculated based on the followingformula:

${{Furfural}\mspace{14mu} {yield}} = \frac{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {furfural}\mspace{14mu} {measured}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {hydrosylate} \times 100\%}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {xylan}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {untreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse} \times 0.727}$

HMF yield in hydrolysate was calculated based on the following formula:

${H\; M\; F\mspace{14mu} {yield}} = \frac{{Total}\mspace{14mu} H\; M\; F\mspace{14mu} {measured}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {hydrosylate} \times 100\%}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucan}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {untreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse} \times 0.778}$

Measurement of Enzymatic Digestibility:

Enzymatic hydrolysis was conducted in a 20 mL bottle containing 5 mL ofenzyme solution. The enzymatic hydrolysis was carried out at 50° C. for72 hours. The amount of pretreated bagasse used in each assay containedan equivalent of 2% cellulose loading. The enzyme Accellerase® was usedfor enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated bagasse in an amount of 0.5mL enzyme per gram pretreated bagasse. Accellerase® is an enzyme mixturecontaining cellulases and xylanases.

Enzymatic digestibility was calculated based on the amount of glucosereleased by enzymatic hydrolysis compared to the total glucan inpretreated bagasse before enzymatic hydrolysis.

Digestibility was calculated based on the following formula:

${Digestibility} = \frac{\begin{matrix}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucan}\mspace{14mu} {converted}\mspace{14mu} {to}\mspace{14mu} {glucose}} \\{{after}\mspace{14mu} {enzymatic}\mspace{14mu} {hydrolysis} \times 100\%}\end{matrix}}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucan}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {sample}}$

Example 2 FTIR Data of Untreated Bagasse and Pretreated Bagasse

FIG. 1 shows FTIR spectra of untreated bagasse and bagasse pretreatedwith either an acid solution or a glycerol/acid/water solution. Thebagasse samples were either untreated or pretreated with the acidsolution or the glycerol/acid/water solution for 60 minutes at 130° C.The acid solution contained 1.2% HCl and 98.8% water. Theglycerol/acid/water solution contained 1.2% HCl, 88.8% glycerol, and 10%water.

The ester bond signal at 1732 cm⁻¹ was weaker in the spectrum of thepretreated samples than that of the untreated sample, suggesting thatsome ester linkages between lignin and the carbohydrates were cleavedduring the pretreatment process (Liu et al., 2009).

The peaks at 1515 cm⁻¹ and 1605 cm⁻¹, which relate to the aromaticskeleton vibrations in lignin (Liu et al., 2009), were present in thepretreated samples, indicating that the pretreatment process did notcompletely remove lignin. The peaks at 1515 cm⁻¹ and 1605 cm⁻¹ weresharper for the acid pretreated bagasse than those for the untreatedbagasse and the glycerol/acid/water pretreated bagasse, which indicatesa higher lignin content in the acid pretreated bagasse. This isconsistent with the lignin content shown in Table 1.

Sharper absorption peaks occurred at 1425 cm⁻¹ and 1460 cm⁻¹ for theacid pretreated bagasse, which may be attributed to a higher content ofmethoxy groups present in the lignin (Guo et al., 2008). Absorbance bythe hydroxyl groups occurred in different bands, with a prominent bandat 1050 cm⁻¹ due to the 1 ry OH group in lignin or the C—OH bending inhemicellulose. Furthermore, a phenolic hydroxyl group band is observableat 1375 cm⁻¹. These features are recognized as the common functionalgroups associated with the structure of lignin (Guo et al., 2008; Li etal., 2009).

Peaks at 1320=⁻¹ were attributed to C—H vibrations in cellulose and C1-Ovibrations in syringyl derivatives (Zhao et al., 2008). The peak at 1320cm⁻¹ was sharper for the acid pretreated bagasse than for those of theuntreated, bagasse and the glycerol/acid/water pretreated bagasse,possibly due to higher syringyl lignin content in the acid pretreatedbagasse.

The increase in the peak at around 1200 cm⁻¹ for both the acid andglycerol/acid pretreated bagasse, suggests an increased contributionfrom second OH groups (Guo et al., 2008). The peak at 1105 cm⁻¹, whichrefers to the removal of crystalline cellulose, is sharper for the acidpretreated bagasse, and indicates that the acid pretreatment increasedthe crystallinity of the bagasse (Li et al., 2010). A small sharp bandat 898 cm⁻¹ is characteristic of β-glycosidic linkages, and demonstratesthe presence of predominant β-glycosidic linkages between the sugarunits in cellulose and hemicellulose (Liu et al., 2009). The peak at 835cm⁻¹, which belongs to a C—H out of plane vibration in lignin, issharper in the acid pretreated bagasse indicating higher lignin contentin the acid pretreated bagasse (Zhao et al., 2008).

Example 3 SEM of Untreated Bagasse and Pretreated Bagasse

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was conducted to studychanges in bagasse morphology following various pretreatments. Thebagasse samples were either untreated or pretreated with an acidsolution or a glycerol/acid/water solution for 60 minutes at 130° C. Theacid solution contained 1.2% HCl and 98.8% water. Theglycerol/acid/water solution contained 1.2% HCl, 88.8% glycerol, and 10%water.

As shown in FIG. 2, the untreated bagasse sample exhibited grid andcompact fibrils (FIG. 2 a), which hinder the ability of the enzymes toaccess the cellulosic and hemicellulosic components of the bagasse(i.e., the lignocellulosic material) during saccharification. Themorphology of bagasse pretreated with the acid solution did not changesignificantly compared to untreated bagasse (FIG. 2 b), although somepores appeared in the acid pretreated bagasse. In contrast, pretreatmentwith the glycerol/acid/water solution destroyed the rigid structure ofbagasse (FIG. 2 c). Without being bound to a particular theory, this maybe attributed to the removal of hemicellulose and some of the ligninfrom the bagasse, resulting in the dissociation of the fibrils,increased porosity and increased specific surface area of the material.

Example 4 Effect of Glycerol Concentration in the Pretreatment Solutionon the Content, Recovery, and Enzymatic Digestibility of PretreatedBagasse

The effect of varying the amount of glycerol in the glycerol/acid/watersolution was examined. The amounts of glycerol and water used in theglycerol/acid/water pretreatment solution, which used 1.2% HCl as theacid catalyst, are given in Table 1. Pretreatment of the bagasse sampleswith a glycerol/acid/water solution was performed at 130° C. for 60 min.Glycerol/acid/water solutions containing more than 78% glycerol produceda solid residue having greater than 60% glucan and less than 8% xylanand an enzyme digestibility of about 88% or more. Bagasse treated with aglycerol/acid/water solution containing 58.8% glycerol showed lowerdigestibility than bagasse pretreated with pretreatment solutions havinghigher amounts of glycerol, but greater digestibility than bagassetreated with only 1.2% HCl (Table 1).

TABLE 1 Pretreatment of bagasse using a pretreatment solution with 1.2%HCl and various glycerol concentrations at 130° C. for 60 min. Contentin solid residue Total recovery in solid (%) residue (%) DigestibilityGlycerol/HCl/water (%) Glucan Xylan Lignin Glucan Xylan Lignin (%)96.3/1.2/2.5 65.5. 1.3 26.4 86.7 3.2 54.9 100.0 88.8/1.2/10.0 65.1 1.525.7 88.8 3.8 55.7 100.0 78.8/1.2/20.0 62.1 7.3 26.1 89.1 19.7 60.2 87.958.8/1.2/40.0 52.7 8.9 27.8 98.3 31.2 82.4 60.3 0.0/1.2/98.8 56.3 8.531.0 94.1 26.7 82.3 38.4 Glycerol only 43.0 22.6 26.4 99.4 98.3 97.0 9.5Untreated bagasse 42.9 22.8 27.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 6.9

Table 2 shows the components detected in the hydrolysate afterpretreatment. The proportion of glucose in the hydrolysate increasedwith increasing glycerol content. Unexpectedly, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural(HMF), a dehydration product of glucose which is usually produced underacidic pretreatment conditions, was not detected in the hydrolysates.5-HMF is generally considered to be an undesirable product because it isan inhibitor of microorganism growth.

Xylose is the hydrolysis product of xylan and can be fermented tobiochemicals and ethanol by some microorganisms though currently thefermentation efficiency is not commercially economical. Xyloseconcentration increased in the hydrolysate with decreasing glycerolcontent in the pretreatment solution and the furfural values obtainedwere variable. It was expected that a higher concentration of xylose andfurfural would be detected in the hydrolysate from pretreatments withhigh glycerol concentration because solutions with higher glycerolcontent have higher acidity, and higher acidity generally produces morexylose and furfural. It is therefore likely that some of the furfuraland xylose may have been converted to unidentified products. Furfural isgenerally considered to be an undesirable product because it is aninhibitor of microorganism growth.

Interestingly, the concentration of acetic acid measured in thehydrolysate after pretreatment with the 93.6% glycerol pretreatmentsolution was less than the amount of acetic acid measured in thehydrolysate after pretreatment with pretreatment solutions containinglower amounts of glycerol. Without being bound to a particular theory,this may be attributable to a side reaction in which acetic acid isconsumed by glycerol through an esterification process. Similarly,acetic acid is generally considered to be an undesirable product becauseit is an inhibitor of microorganism growth.

It has been reported that glycerol chlorination occurs when HCl ispresent in glycerol and that chlorination is more efficient in thepresence of organic acids, such as acetic acid (Tesser et al., 2007).Glycerol chlorination products include 3-MCPD,2-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (2-MCPD), 1,3-dichloropropane-2-ol(1,3-DCP) and 1,2-dichloropropane-3-ol (1,2-DCP), with 3-MCPD and1,3-DCP as the dominant products (Tesser et al., 2007). As shown inTable 2, the mount of 3-MCPD decreased with decreasing glycerol content,suggesting that glycerol loss due to glycerol chlorination is minimizedat low glycerol content. Glycerol chlorination products may inhibitenzymatic hydrolysis and yeast fermentation of the hydrolysate obtainedafter enzymatic digestion.

TABLE 2 Composition of hydrolysates obtained after bagasse pretreatmentusing 1.2% HCl at 130° C. for 60 min at various glycerol contents.Concentration in solution after pretreatment Glycerol/HCl/water (g/kg)Yield (%) (%) Glucose Acetic acid Xylose Furfural 3-MCPD Glucose XyloseFurfural 96.3/1.2/2.5 1.5 3.1 1.2 0.4 11.5  3.6 4.8 2.6 88.8/1.2/10.01.3 3.6 2.2 1.1 2.2 3.2 8.8 7.7 78.8/1.2/20.0 1.1 3.5 3.7 1.1 0.5 2.615.2 8.6 58.8/1.2/40.0 0.7 3.5 7.7 0.7 — 1.8 31.2 3.8

Example 5 Effect of Pretreatment Temperature on Content, Recovery, andEnzymatic Digestibility of Bagasse

Table 3 shows the effect of pretreatment temperature on the enzymaticdigestibility of pretreated bagasse. Bagasse samples were pretreatedwith a solution containing 88.8% glycerol, 10.0% water and 1.2% HCl for60 minutes. A temperature of 130° C. resulted in the highest amount ofglucan obtained after pretreatment, as well as rendering the bagassemore amenable to enzyme hydrolysis. Most of the xylan present in bagassewas removed at 130° C.

TABLE 3 Pretreatment of bagasse using a glycerol/acid/water(88.8%/1.2%/10.0%) solution at 90° C., 110° C. and 130° C. for 60 min.Content in solid Total recovery in Pretreatment residue (%) solidresidue (%) Digestibility temperature Glucan Xylan Glucan Xylan (%)  90°C. 47.0 12.6 92.5 39.3 40.0 110° C. 59.4 7.8 90.3 18.8 86.1 130° C. 65.11.5 88.8 3.2 100.0 Untreated bagasse 42.9 27.1 100.0 100.0 6.9

Example 6 Effect of Acid Concentration on Content, Recovery, andEnzymatic Digestibility of Bagasse

Table 4 shows the effect of HCl concentration in the pretreatment ofbagasse and its enzymatic digestibility. Changing the HCl concentrationin the pretreatment solution resulted in small changes in the glycerolcontent, such as from 87.6% to 89.6, since water content in thepretreatment solution was kept at 10%. The small changes in glycerolcontent did not generate a major impact on the pretreatment process.Each of the bagasse samples were pretreated with a pretreatment solutionfor 60 minutes at 130° C.

The glucan content in the solid residue was about 60% with each of theacid concentrations used in the study. Xylan recovery in the solidresidue was about 3.2% and 2.7% using a pretreatment solution with 1.2%and 2.4% HCl, respectively. The digestibility of bagasse pretreated with1.2% HCl and 2.4% HCl reached 100% in a 72 hour enzymatic hydrolysisassay (Table 4).

TABLE 4 Pretreatment solutions with varying concentrations of HCl. Totalrecovery Content in solid in solid residue HCl/glycerol/ residue (%) (%)Digestibility water (%) Glucan Xylan Glucan Xylan (%) 0.4/89.6/10.0 59.07.8 89.8 18.8 86.5 1.2/88.8/10.0 65.1 1.5 88.8 3.2 100.0 2.4/87.6/10.065.7 1.6 82.1 2.7 100.0 Untreated bagasse 42.9 27.1 100.0 100.0 6.9

Example 7 Effect of Length of Time for Pretreatment on Content,Recovery, and Enzymatic Digestibility of Bagasse

Bagasse samples were pretreated for about 15, 30, 60, or 90 minutes at130° C. with a pretreatment solution comprising 88.8% glycerol, 10%water and 1.2% HCl. As shown in Table 5, a higher proportion of xylanwas removed from bagasse as pretreatment time increased. The amount ofglucan obtained in the solid residue was over 60% even after 15 min ofpretreatment.

The digestibility of bagasse pretreated for 15 min or 30 min reached88.1% and 96.6%, respectively, using a 72 hour enzymatic hydrolysisassay. Longer pretreatment times resulted in 100% digestibility.

TABLE 5 Pretreatment of bagasse using a glycerol/acid/water(88.8%/1.2%/10%) solution at 130° C. at various times Content in solidTotal recovery in residue (%) solid residue (%) DigestibilityPretreatment time Glucan Xylan Glucan Xylan (%) 15 min 61.2 7.6 89.917.7 88.1 30 min 63.3 4.9 89.2 9.2 96.6 60 min 65.1 1.5 88.8 3.2 100.090 min 65.7 1.8 87.0 3.0 100.0 Untreated bagasse 42.9 27.1 100.0 100.06.9

Example 8 Use of H₂SO₄ as the Acid Catalyst in the Pretreatment Solution

Table 6 shows the glucan and xylan content in the solid residue (%) andtotal recovery in the solid residue (%) after bagasse pretreatment witha glycerol/acid/water pretreatment solution using H₂SO₄ as the acidcatalyst. The bagasse was treated with the pretreatment solution at 130°C. for 60, 90, or 120 minutes. The amount of glucan in the pretreatedbagasse was more than 60% compared to a value of 42.9% for untreatedbagasse. The amount of xylan removed from bagasse was more than 80%.

TABLE 6 Pretreatment of bagasse using H₂SO₄ as the catalyst in thepretreatment solution. Total recovery Content in solid in solid residueH₂SO₄/water/glycerol (%) residue (%) (%) and pretreatment time GlucanXylan Glucan Xylan 1.6/10.0/88.4, 60 min 62.2 6.4 93.3 15.21.6/10.0/88.4, 90 min 63.5 2.5 91.4 5.8 1.6/10.0/88.4, 120 min 63.6 3.389.3 7.3 1.6/20.0/78.4, 90 min 61.0 6.1 91.7 14.6 1.6/20.0/78.4, 120 min60.3 6.0 90.9 14.3 Untreated bagasse 42.9 27.1 100.0 100.0

Example 9 Use of FeCl₃ as the Catalyst in the Pretreatment Solution

Table 7 shows the glucan and xylan content in the solid residue (%) andtotal recovery in the solid residue (%) after bagasse pretreatment witha pretreatment solution using FeCl₃ as the acid catalyst at 130° C. for60 min. An increase in the glucan content in the pretreated bagasse wasachieved using a pretreatment solution with higher FeCl₃ concentrations.The presence of 10% water in the glycerol/FeCl₃/water pretreatmentsolutions, resulted in lower glucan content in the solid residue andless digestibility compared to FeCl₃/glycerol pretreatment solutionscontaining no water.

TABLE 7 Pretreatment of bagasse using FeCl₃ as the catalyst in thepretreatment solution. Content in solid Total recovery in FeCl₃/water/residue (%) solid residue (%) Digestibility glycerol (%) Glucan XylanGlucan Xylan (%) 0.6/0.0/99.4 57.2 8.4 93.0 21.6 82.0 1.2/0.0/98.8 61.86.6 90.8 15.4 87.3 2.4/0.0/97.6 65.0 4.7 90.3 10.3 91.0 0.6/10.0/89.456.8 10.1 93.2 26.3 63.3 1.2/10.0/88.8 61.0 6.9 91.5 16.4 85.82.4/10.0/87.6 64.6 5.0 91.3 11.2 89.1

Example 10 Effect of Glycerol Concentration in Acid and Soda-PretreatedBagasse on Enzymatic Hydrolysis

The effect of glycerol concentration on the enzymatic hydrolysis of acidand soda-pretreated bagasse was investigated. The acid pretreatedbagasse was prepared by pretreatment of the bagasse with a 0.73% H₂SO₄solution at 170° C. for 15 min in a Parr reactor. The soda pretreatedbagasse was prepared by pretreatment of the bagasse with a 18% NaOHsolution at 170° C. for 40 min in a Parr reactor. The pretreated bagassewas washed 4 times with 300 mL distilled water. After washing thebagasse, the bagasse was filtrated and air-dried. The air-dried bagassewas milled by a cutting grinder to generate bagasse powder for theenzymatic hydrolysis analysis.

The addition of glycerol from 5% to 30% to the enzymatic hydrolysissolution of pretreated bagasse inhibited cellulase hydrolysis in thefirst 12 hours. The level of inhibition of cellulase activity increasedwith increasing glycerol concentration during the first 12 hours.However, the cellulose digestibility of the pretreated bagasse in thepresence of 5% and 10% glycerol surpassed that without glycerol additionafter 24 hours and 72 hours. It is known that glycerol can be used as anenzyme stabilizer for enzymes during freezing storage and thawingprocesses. Glycerol has also been used to store some enzymes attemperatures above 0° C. (Costa et al 2002). While not wishing to bebound to any particular theory, the results here indicate that glycerolmay stabilize cellulase activity over longer periods of time, eventhough it inhibits hydrolysis during the initial hydrolysis stage.

Example 11 Effect of Glycerol Concentration in Glycerol/Acid/WaterPretreated Bagasse on Enzymatic Hydrolysis

The effect of glycerol concentration on the enzymatic hydrolysis ofglycerol/acid/water pretreated bagasse was investigated. Bagasse waspretreated with a pretreatment solution containing 1.2% HCl, 88.8%glycerol and 10% water at 130° C. for 60 minutes and was then filtrated.A portion of the pretreated bagasse was washed as described in Example 1before enzymatic hydrolysis. The other portion of the pretreated bagassewas used directly (i.e., without washing) for enzymatic hydrolysis.

Example 12 Recycling of the Pretreatment Solution

A bagasse sample was pretreated with a fresh batch of pretreatmentsolution containing 88.8% glycerol, 10% water, and 1.2% HCl. Thepretreatment temperature and time for the initial and subsequentpretreatments were 130° C. and 30 min, respectively. After pretreatment,the filtrate/hydrolysate was collected and water was removed by vacuumevaporation at 80° C. to produce a concentrated filtrate. Without addingany additional HCl, the concentrated filtrate was adjusted to a watercontent of approximately 10% to produce a recycled pretreatmentsolution. The recycled pretreatment solution was then used to pretreat afresh bagasse sample. After pretreatment, the filtrate was againcollected and the same process was followed for recycling thepretreatment solution. The pretreatment solution was recycled a secondand third time and each recycled solution was used to pretreat a freshbagasse sample. After each pretreatment, the pretreated bagasse wascollected, washed and filtrated, as describe in Example 1, beforeenzymatic hydrolysis.

The digestibility of bagasse after pretreatment using the first recycledsolution was 99%. Thus, the first recycled pretreatment solution showedno significant decrease in effectiveness in regards to digestibilitycompared to the fresh pretreatment solution. The digestibility ofbagasse pretreated with the third recycled pretreatment solutionremained greater than 92%. While not wishing to be limited by anyparticular theory, the slight decrease seen in the digestibility ofbagasse pretreated with a recycled glycerol solution suggests that theacidity of the pretreatment solution may become weaker after severaluses.

Example 13 Two-Step Pretreatment of Bagasse

A two-step pretreatment process for bagasse was utilized to determinethe effect on the production of inhibitory components compared to aone-step pretreatment. In the first step of the two-step pretreatmentprocess, a dilute acid was used to pretreat bagasse (i.e.,pre-pretreatment). The dilute acid pre-pretreatment removes mast of thexylan in bagasse. In the second step of the two-step pretreatmentprocess, a glycerol/acid/water pretreatment solution was used to furtherpretreat the bagasse. Inhibitory components, such as furfural and aceticacid, were significantly reduced in the two-step pretreatment processcompared to the one-step pretreatment of the bagasse with theglycerol/acid/water pretreatment solution only.

Specifically, for the first step of the two-step pretreatment process, 1gam of bagasse was pre-pretreated with 10 grams of a dilute acidsolution containing 1.2% HCl at 130° C. for 1 hour. The pre-pretreatedbagasse was filtrated and washed as described in Example 1. Then, thepre-pretreated bagasse was air-dried. Several batches of pre-pretreatedbagasse were prepared using the first step of the two-step pretreatmentprocess to obtain sufficient pre-pretreated biomass for the second stepof the two-step pretreatment process.

For the second step of the two-step pretreatment process, 1.0 gram ofthe air-dried pre-pretreated bagasse was pretreated with 10 grams of aglycerol/acid/water pretreatment solution containing 88.8% glycerol,1.2% HCL, and 10.0% water at 130° C. for 1 hour. The pretreated bagassesamples were then washed and filtrated, as described in Example 1,before enzymatic hydrolysis.

Example 14 Materials and Methods

Sugarcane bagasse was used as a model lignocellulosic biomass and wascollected from Racecourse sugar mill (Mackay Sugar Limited, Australia)in Mackay, Australia. Sugarcane bagasse was washed in the sugar millusing hot water (90° C.) and the residual sugar attached on bagasse wasnegligible. The sugarcane bagasse was air-dried, depithed and grinded bya cutter grinder (Retsch® SM100, Retsch GmBH, Germany). The milledbagasse was screened and bagasse having particle sizes of 250-500 μm wascollected and stored for experiment. The moisture of the bagasse powderwas 6.9%. Glycerol was purchased from Biolab Scientific Pty Ltd(Australia). Ethylene glycol and 1,2-propanediol were purchased fromSigma-Aldrich company (Australia). All solvents used in this study wereanalytical grade. Accellerase™ 1000 (Batch no. 1600877126) was a Daniscoproduct (Genencor Division, Danisco Inc., US) and was purchased throughEnzymes Solutions Pty. Ltd (Australia). The filter paper activity ofAccellerase™ 1000 was approximate 40 FPU/mL. All the chemicals used inthis study were analytic reagents.

Pretreatment Experiment

Polyol solution which contained a required amount of HCl and water wastransferred into a 50 mL glass flask. A magnetic stirrer was placed intothe flask. 4.30 g bagasse (4.0 g dry biomass) was transferred into theflask and mixed well. The ratio of liquid to solid was 10:1 (weight toweight). The pretreatment conditions are shown in Table 8. The flask wassealed with a lid avoiding water loss and immersed to a silicone oilbath, which was preheated to the required temperature. The heatingelement was equipped with a magnetic stirring device (Ika Labortechnik,Germany). The pretreatment was carried out under magnetic stirring (500rpm) for a required time. After pretreatment, the pretreatment solutionwas transferred to a beaker and 20 mL water was added. The solution wasmixed well and then filtered through a filter paper (Whatman 541) tocollect solid residue. The filtrate was collected and stored in freezerfor further analysis. The solid residue was washed with 900 mL distilledwater (3×300 mL/wash). The washed solid residue was filtered andcollected. The filtered solid residue was freeze-dried and stored forcompositional analysis and enzymatic hydrolysis. Compositional analysisof bagasse and pretreated bagasse samples was conducted according to astandard procedure developed by National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL, US) (Sluiter et al., 2008).

TABLE 8 Pretreatment conditions. Solvent composition (%) Tempera- TimeCondition Polyol HCl water polyol ture (° C.) (min) label glycerol 1.210.0 88.8 130 30 Gly-30 1.2 10.0 88.8 130 60 Gly-60 0.0 0.7* 99.3 130 60Gly-60, no acid ethylene glycol 1.2 10.0 88.8 130 30 EG-30 1.2 10.0 88.8130 60 EG-60 0.0 0.7* 99.3 130 60 EG-60, no acid 1,2-propanediol 1.210.0 88.8 130 30 Diol-30 1.2 10.0 88.8 130 60 Diol-60 0.0 0.7* 99.3 13060 Diol-60, no acid Water 1.2 98.8 0.0 130 60 Acid in water *The watercame from the sugarcane bagasse.

Enzymatic Hydrolysis

Enzymatic hydrolysis was carried out in a 20 mL glass vial containing 5g solution. The cellulose loading of 2% was used based on cellulosecontent in bagasse sample. The reaction solution contained 0.05 Mcitrate buffer to maintain pH at 4.8 and 0.02% sodium azide to preventthe growth of microorganisms. The dosage of Accellerase for enzymatichydrolysis was 0.5 mL Accellerase/g cellulose (approximate 20 FPU/gcellulose) unless otherwise stated. The reaction was carried out at 50°C. in a rotary incubator (Ratek OM 11 Orbital Mixer, Australia) withshaking speed of 150 rpm. The sampling time was 0 h, 6 h, 0.12 h, 24 h,48 h and 72 h. The sampling volume was 0.2 mL using a cut-off pipettetip. After sampling, the sample was sealed and incubated for 5 min in aboiling water bath to denature the cellulase. The sample was thencentrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 5 min. 0.1 mL supernatant was diluted 10times by de-ionized water. The diluted sample was filtered through 0.22μm disk filter before HPLC analysis. All the enzymatic hydrolysisexperiments were conducted in duplicate and the data showed in thisstudy were the means.

HPLC Analysis

HPLC was used to analyze the chemicals generated in this study. ABio-Rad Aminex HPX-87H column and Waters refractive index detector wereused to detect and quantify organic acids (acetic acid, levulinic acid,etc.), 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural. The mobile phase was5 mM H₂SO₄ at a flow rate of 0.6 nil 1 min. The temperature for thecolumn was 65° C. A Shodex SP 810 carbohydrate column was used todetermine the sugars generated in the compositional analysis andenzymatic hydrolysis. The temperature for both columns was 85° C. andthe mobile phase was water with a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min. The samples(except the enzymatic hydrolysis samples) were neutralized by CaCO₃before running through the columns.

Calculation

Glucan (xylan) recovery was calculated based on the following equation:

$\begin{matrix}{{{Glucan}\mspace{14mu} ({xylan})\mspace{14mu} {recovery}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {solid}\mspace{14mu} {residue}} = \frac{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucan}\mspace{14mu} ({xylan})\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {pretreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse}\mspace{14mu} {residue} \times 100\%}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucan}\mspace{14mu} ({xylan})\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {untreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse}}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

Glucan digestibility was calculated based on the following equation:

$\begin{matrix}{{Digestibility} = \frac{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucose}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {enzymatic}\mspace{14mu} {hydrolysis} \times 0.9 \times 100\%}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucan}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {sample}}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

Total glucose yield after enzymatic hydrolysis was calculated based onthe following equation:

$\begin{matrix}{{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucose}\mspace{14mu} {yield}} = \frac{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucose}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {enzymatic}\mspace{14mu} {hydrolysis} \times 0.9 \times 100\%}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucan}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {untreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse}}} & (3)\end{matrix}$

The yield of glucose (xylose and furfural) detected in pretreatmenthydrolysate on bagasse was calculated based on the following equation:

$\begin{matrix}{{{Yield}\mspace{14mu} {on}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse}} = \frac{\begin{matrix}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucose}\mspace{14mu} ( {{xylose}\mspace{14mu} {or}\mspace{14mu} {furfural}} )} \\{{in}\mspace{14mu} {pretreatment}\mspace{14mu} {hydrosylate} \times 100\%}\end{matrix}}{{Untreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse}\mspace{14mu} {weight}}} & (4)\end{matrix}$

The yield of glucose (xylose and furfural) detected in pretreatmenthydroysate on initial glucan (xylan) was calculated based on thefollowing equations:

$\begin{matrix}{{{Glucose}\mspace{14mu} {yield}} = \frac{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucose}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {pretreatment}\mspace{14mu} {hydrosylate} \times 0.9 \times 100\%}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {glucan}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {untreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse}}} & (5) \\{{{Xylose}\mspace{14mu} {yield}} = \frac{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {xylose}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {pretreatment}\mspace{14mu} {hydrosylate} \times 0.88 \times 100\%}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {xylan}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {untreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse}\mspace{14mu} {weight}}} & (6) \\{{{Furfural}\mspace{14mu} {yield}} = \frac{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {furfural}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {pretreatment}\mspace{14mu} {hydrosylate} \times 1.375 \times 100\%}{{Total}\mspace{14mu} {xylan}\mspace{14mu} {in}\mspace{14mu} {untreated}\mspace{14mu} {bagasse}\mspace{14mu} {weight}}} & (7)\end{matrix}$

Results and Discussion Sugarcane Bagasse Pretreatment

Pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse was conducted at 130° C. As shown inTable 9, pretreatment polyols without water and acid catalyst onlycaused slight changes in glucan, xylan and lignin compositions in solidresidue compared to treated bagasse. All the pretreatments retained over90% glucan. Dilute acid pretreatment at 130° C. for 60 min removed 73%xylan and only 18% lignin (corresponding to xylan recovery of 27% andlignin recovery of 82%). Pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse for 30-60 minby aqueous glycerol containing acid catalyst removed 89-96% xylan and40-44% lignin (corresponding to xylan recovery of 4-11% and ligninrecovery of 56-60%). The glucan content in bagasse pretreated by acidicglycerol was between 63-65%.

TABLE 9 Effect of pretreatment conditions on biomass composition andrecovery. Content in solid residue (%) Recovery in solid residue (%)Conditions Glucan Xylan Lignin Glucan Xylan Lignin Gly-30 63.3 4.9 26.291.2 11.2 60.0 Gly-60 65.1 1.5 25.7 90.6 3.9 55.7 Gly-60, 43.0 22.6 25.697.0 95.9 91.8 no acid EG-30 76.0 4.4 16.4 94.7 10.6 31.3 EG-60 78.3 2.616.3 93.9 5.9 29.6 EG-60, 42.8 22.3 27.0 97.3 96.4 93.4 no acid Diol-3079.3 5.8 12.7 94.2 13.1 22.9 Diol-60 81.9 2.9 10.3 92.6 6.1 17.7Diol-60, 43.0 22.5 26.8 97.9 97.4 92.8 no acid Acid in 56.3 8.5 31.094.1 26.7 82.3 water Untreated 42.9 22.8 27.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 bagasse

Pretreatment of bagasse by both ethylene glycol and 1,2-propanediolsolutions containing acid removed similar amounts of xylan but highamounts of lignin compared to glycerol pretreatment. 1,2-propanediolpretreatment for only 30 min removed up to 77% lignin (corresponding tolignin recovery of 23%) and extension of pretreatment time to 60 minremoved further about 5% lignin. Ethylene glycol pretreatment for 30-60min removed ˜30% lignin, which was 8-13% lower than that by1,2-propanediol pretreatment. The glucan content in bagasse pretreatedby 1,2-propanediol improved to 79% for 30 min pretreatment and 82% for60 min pretreatment, followed by 76%-78% in bagasse pretreated byethylene glycol for 30-60 min. The glucan content in bagasse pretreatedby both ethylene glycol and 1,2-propanediol was 13-16% higher than thatin bagasse pretreated by glycerol.

Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Pretreated Bagasse

The pretreated bagasse was further enzymatic hydrolyzed with a cellulaseloading, of 20 FPU/g glucan. As shown in FIG. 3, pretreatment with allthree aqueous polyol solutions containing 1.2% HCl improved glucandigestibility significantly compared to pretreatment with watercontaining 1.2% HCl and polyols without water and acid catalyst. Asshown in Table 10 and FIG. 3, the digestibility of bagasse pretreatedwith polyols without water and acid catalyst was very low, 8-10%.Pretreatment with water containing 1.2% HCl only improved glucandigestibility to 38.4%.

TABLE 10 Glucan digestibility and total glucose yield. Glucan Totaldigestibility (%) glucose yield (%) Conditions 24 h 72 h 24 h 72 hGly-30 73.7 92.6 67.2 84.5 Gly-60 83.9 97.1 76.0 88.0 Gly-60, no acid9.3 9.5 9.0 9.2 EG-30 91.0 99.4 86.2 94.1 EG-60 91.8 99.8 86.2 93.7EG-60, no acid 7.0 8.7 6.8 8.5 Diol-30 91.0 99.2 85.7 93.4 Diol-60 90.999.7 84.2 92.4 Diol-60, no acid 6.9 8.3 6.8 8.1 Acid in water 38.4 38.436.1 36.1

Pretreatment by acidic glycerol solution for 30 min and 60 min improvedglucan digestibility to 92.6% and 97.1%. The 24 h digestibilities were74% and 84% respectively for bagasse pretreated for 30 min and 60 min.The kinetic curves of enzymatic hydrolysis of bagasse pretreated for 30min and 60 min by both ethylene glycol and 1,2-propanediol were almostidentical (FIGS. 3 b and 3 c, respectively). The 72 h digestibilitiesfor bagasse pretreated for 30 min and 60 min by both ethylene glycol and1,2-propanediol solutions were more than 99%. The 24 h digestibilitiesreached 91% for bagasse pretreated by ethylene glycol and1,2-propanediol solutions.

The 72 h and 24 h total glucose yields (considering the glucan recoveryin solid residues) for bagasse pretreated with both ethylene glycol and1,2-propanediols were 92-94% and 84-86% respectively, which were higherthan those for bagasse pretreated with glycerol solutions. All theglucose yields for bagasse pretreated with all the polyols weresignificantly higher than those for bagasse pretreated with watercontaining dilute acid and polyol solutions without water and acidcatalyst.

Effect of Soda Wash

Without being limited to any particular theory, it is believed that thepresence of lignin can form a physical barrier for preventing cellulaseaccess to cellulose and non-productively bind cellulases, which reducethe efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis (Gilkes et al., 2005). Therefore,removal of lignin could improve enzymatic hydrolysis.

Effect of Soda Wash on Biomass Composition

0.2% NaOH solution (pH 12.3) was used to wash bagasse pretreated for 60min with polyol solutions. As shown in Table 11, dilute soda washfurther decreased the lignin content in all pretreated bagasse. Thelignin content in bagasse pretreated by both ethylene glycol and1,2-propanediol solutions was reduced to less than 5% after soda wash.However, the bagasse pretreated by glycerol solution, the lignin contentwas still significantly high (19.1%) after soda wash. The glucan contentin bagasse pretreated by both ethylene glycol and 1,2-propanediolsolutions was improved from 78-82% before soda wash to 91-92% afterwash. In contrast, soda wash only improved glucan content in bagassepretreated by glycerol solution to 72%. The lignin removal by soda washfor sugarcane bagasse pretreated by ethylene glycol and 1,2-propanediolsolutions was more readily than pretreated by glycerol solution.

TABLE 11 Effect of dilute soda wash on biomass composition. PretreatmentContent in solid residue (%) conditions Soda wash Glucan Xylan LigninGly-60 No 65.1 1.5 25.7 Yes 72.4 1.7 19.1 EG-60 No 78.3 2.6 16.3 Yes91.1 1.7 4.8 Diol-60 No 81.9 2.9 10.3 Yes 91.7 1.9 3.6

It is believed that most lignin seals and structures were ruptured inpretreatment by ethylene glycol and 1,2-propanediol. The ruptured lignincondensed on biomass particle surface after pretreatment, which could bedissolved in soda solution readily. However, many linkages betweenlignin and cellulose or the structures of significant amount of ligninwere not ruptures in glycerol pretreatment. Therefore, dilute soda washcould not dissolve the residual lignin effectively.

Effect of Soda Wash on Enzymatic Hydrolysis

The effects of soda wash on enzymatic hydrolysis were furtherinvestigated with loading different amount of cellulases (6.7-20 FPU/gglucan). As shown in FIG. 4, lignin removal by soda wash significantlyimproved enzymatic hydrolysis of bagasse pretreated by both ethyleneglycol and 1,2-propanediol solutions at a low cellulose loading of 6.7FPU/g glucan. Table 12 shows the 24 h and 72 h digestibilities forpretreated bagasse with or without soda wash. The 24 h digestibilitiesat a cellulase loading of only 6.7 FPU/g glucan for bagasse pretreatedwith ethylene glycol and 1,2-propanediol solutions with soda wash were77.6% and 80.0% respectively, 19.2% and 28.0% higher than those forbagasse without soda wash. The 24 h digestibilities at a celluloseloading of 13.3 FPU/g glucan for bagasse with soda wash were comparableto those at a cellulose loading of 20.0 FPU/g glucan for bagasse withoutsoda wash. Therefore, without being bound to any particular theory,lignin removal by soda wash of bagasse pretreated by polyols couldimprove enzymatic hydrolysis and also reduce the cellulose loading.

In a previous study, up to 1.0% soda solution was used to remove ligninpresent in the steam exploded Douglas-fur biomass, which reduced lignincontent about 7% and increase glucose conversion about 30% (Gilkes etal., 2005). Our results indicate that residual lignin may be morereadily removed from biomass pretreated by ethylene glycol and1,2-propanediol with low soda concentration (02% NaOH) than by steamexplosion.

TABLE 12 Effect of lignin removal by soda wash on glucan digestibilityat different cellulase loadings. Cellulase loading DigestibilityDigestibility Polyol (FPU/g (unwashed, %) (washed, %) Improvement (%)solutions glucan) 24 h 72 h 24 h 72 h 24 h 72 h EG 20 91.8 99.8 95.5100.0 4.0 0.2 13.3 85.9 97.9 91.2 99.0 6.2 1.1 6.7 65.1 91.9 77.6 96.219.2 4.7 Diol 20 90.9 99.7 95.1 100.0 4.6 0.3 13.3 83.6 97.6 91.8 99.39.8 1.7 6.7 62.5 90.0 80.0 98.4 28.0 9.3

Three low cost and high boiling-point polyols were studied forpretreatment of sugarcane bagasse at low temperature (130° C.).Pretreatment for 30-60 min by aqueous and acidic ethylene glycol and1,2-propanediol solutions (containing 10% water and 1.2% HCl) removedmuch more lignin from bagasse than that by glycerol pretreatment. Thedigestibility and total glucose yield reached over 99% and 92%respectively for bagasse pretreated by both ethylene glycol and1,2-propanediol solutions. Dilute soda (02% NaOH) at room temperaturewash further decreased the lignin content in pretreated bagasse andresulted in significant improvement of enzymatic hydrolysis at lowcellulase loading.

Example 15 Comparison of Processes Used to Treat Sugarcane Bagasse

Samples of sugarcane bagasse were separately treated with a dilute acid,a caustic soda, and an acid-catalyzed aqueous glycerol pretreatmentsolution and compared as shown in FIG. 5. The treatment with the diluteacid comprised treating 1.0 kg of bagasse with 0.73% H₂SO₄ in liquid at170° C. for 15 minutes in a Parr Reactor. The treatment with causticsoda comprised treating 1.0 kg of bagasse with 3.0% NaOH in liquid (14%Na₂O on fiber) at 170° C. for 45 minutes in a Parr Reactor. Theacid-catalyzed aqueous glycerol pretreatment comprised treating 4 g ofbagasse with a pretreatment solution comprising 1.2% HCl, 10% water, and88.8% glycerol at 130° C. for 60 minutes.

Example 16 Process for the Conversion of Bagasse into Ethanol and OtherCo-Products

FIG. 6 shows a process for converting bagasse into ethanol and otherco-products using an acid-catalyzed aqueous glycerol pretreatmentprocess. Raw bagasse (e.g., bagasse with 50% moisture) is pretreatedwith a pretreatment solution comprising glycerol in the presence of anacid catalyst (e.g., sulphuric acid or hydrochloric acid). The solidresidue obtained after pretreatment is enzymatically hydrolyzed usingenzymes, such as microbially produced cellulolytic enzymes, and thematerial is anaerobically fermented with yeast, such as Saccharomycescerevisiae, into ethanol. Residual glycerol and unfermented pentosesfrom the process stream undergo aerobic fermentation to produce a driedanimal feed product.

The pretreatment liquor (containing principally glycerol, lignin andpentoses) is separated from the solid residue at moderate efficiency andthe pretreatment liquor undergoes a purification process to concentrateand purify the glycerol prior to recycling and reuse in pretreatment.Glycerol purification can comprise evaporation (to remove water)followed by vacuum distillation of the glycerol. The liquor residue fromthe purification stage (containing principally lignin and pentoses) isprocessed for animal feed production.

The ethanol product is distilled and dehydrated to produce fuel gradeanhydrous ethanol. The solid residues from distillation (containingprincipally lignin) can be sold to the sugar factory for combustion forprocess energy. The liquid residue from distillation and animal feedproduction (vinasse) can be recycled to farm land where it attractsvalue as a soil conditioner and fertilizer.

Example 17

Pilot plant experiments were carried out by pretreating sugarcanebagasse with an acid catalyzed aqueous glycerol pretreatment solutionusing HCl as the acid catalyst. The moisture of the sugarcane bagassewas approximately 50%. A total amount of 20 kg raw sugarcane bagasse(approximately 10 kg dry fibre) was used for each experiment. Thegeneral procedure for the pretreatment experiments was as follows:

1. Weigh out the required amount of sugarcane bagasse for theexperiment;

2. Dilute the required quantity of HCl in 5-8 kg of water or glyceroland mix evenly through the bagasse;

3. Preheat the reactor to 5° C. above reaction temperature for 20 min;

4. Load the sugarcane bagasse into the reactor through the biomassfeeding system and the linear weighing machine. Record the actual weightof sugarcane bagasse loaded into the reactor;

5. Preheat the glycerol in the chemical feed tank to approximately 100°C. and add the required quantity of glycerol into the pretreatmentreactor;

6. Heat the reactor to the pre-hydrolysis reaction temperature withdirect injection steam and hold at this temperature for thepre-hydrolysis reaction time;

7. After the pre-hydrolysis reaction time has been achieved, shut offthe steam supply, and press the material to separate the hydrolysatefrom the solid residue. Drain hydrolysate to the hydrolysate tank;

8. Empty the hydrolysate tank and sample the hydrolysate. Record thevolume or weight of hydrolysate collected;

9. Where a wash stage is required, add the required amount of washwater, heat to the wash temperature with direct injection steam and holdfor the wash time. Following the wash, press the material again toseparate the wash liquor from the solid residue. The wash liquor drainsto the hydrolysate tank and is again sampled. Record the volume orweight of wash liquor collected;

10. Cool the reactor, open the reactor and sub-sample the pre-hydrolysissolid residue if required. Record the weight, of sample collected;

11. Preheat vertical reactor to 200° C. for approximately 5 min.

12. Drop the remaining contents of the pre-hydrolysis reactor into thevertical reactor (steam explosion reactor designed by Andritz Inc, NY);

13. Heat the vertical reactor to the vertical reactor temperature andhold for the reaction time;

14. Once the reaction time has been achieved, raise the reactor to thesteam explosion pressure and then immediately open the blow valve toexpel the material into the solid residue blow tank. Collect andsub-sample the steam exploded solid residue. Record the weight of thesteam exploded solid residue collected;

15. Sub-sample the hydrolysate fibre, pre-hydrolysis chamber residualfibre and steam exploded solid residue fibre.

Table 13 shows the experimental conditions used in the pilot plantexperiments.

TABLE 13 Experimental conditions for pilot plant experiments. HCl concPretreatment conditions Pretreatment Liquid to Glycerol conc Water conc% on dry Reaction Reaction Steam # chemicals solid ratio % solution %solution % solution fibre temperature ° C. time, min explosion? 1glycerol only 6 80.0 20.0 0.0 0.0 130 15 No 2 water-HCl 6 0.0 99.6 0.42.4 110 15 3 glycerol-HCl 6 79.6 20.0 0.4 2.4 110 15 4 water-HCl 6 0.099.6 0.4 2.4 110 60 5 glycerol-HCl 6 79.6 20.0 0.4 2.4 110 60 6water-HCl 6 0.0 99.6 0.4 2.4 110 60 Yes, 7 glycerol-HCl 6 79.6 20.0 0.42.4 110 60 170° C. 8 water-HCl 6 0.0 98.8 1.2 7.2 110 15 No 9glycerol-HCl 6 78.8 20.0 1.2 7.2 110 15 10 water-HCl 6 0.0 99.6 0.4 2.4130 15 11 glycerol-HCl 6 79.6 20.0 0.4 2.4 130 15 12 water-HCl 6 0.098.8 1.2 7.2 130 15 13 glycerol-HCl 6 78.8 20.0 1.2 7.2 130 15

Following pretreatment, solid residue and hydrolysate samples werecollected and stored in a refrigerator (<4° C.) for further analysis.The solid residue samples were sub-sampled and the sub-samples werewashed with copious amounts of water to remove soluble materials. Thesewashed solid residue samples were analyzed for composition and glucanenzymatic digestibility. The compositional analyses were conductedaccording to National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) procedures.

The glucan digestibility was analyzed using 100 g solution in a 250 mLshaker flask. The solution contained 2% glucan, approximately 20 FPUcellulase/g glucan (Accellerase 1000L, Genencor), and 0.05 M citratebuffer to maintain pH at 4.8. The hydrolysis temperature was maintainedat 50° C. and the shaking speed was 150 rpm.

Hydrolysate samples were analyzed for organic acid (furfural, 5-HMF,formic acid and levulinic acid) and chlorohythin (3-MCPD)concentrations. Formic acid and levulinic acid concentrations were low(less than 0.1 g/L) and are not reported.

Results

Laboratory scale experiments suggested that acid catalyzed aqueousglycerol pretreatments with a high water content (>20%) led to poorglucan digestibility and, as a result, it was planned to limit the totalreaction water (including water in bagasse and added water) to 20% inthe pilot plant scale experiments. However, for the pilot plant scaleexperiments, with the pre-hydrolysis reactor heated by direct steaminjection, the addition of extra water into the pretreatment solutionduring the reaction was unavoidable. In addition, pilot plantexperiments in the pretreatment reactor at 130° C. with glycerol orwater solutions containing 1.2% HCl (Experiment numbers 12 and 13, Table13) resulted in significant biomass carbonization. No biomasscarbonization was evident in the laboratory experiments under the sameconditions.

As shown in Table 14, the water concentrations in pretreatmenthydrolysates were 32-44%, significantly higher than the optimized values20%) obtained from laboratory experiments. As expected, waterconcentration varied with the pre-hydrolysis reaction temperature andreaction time Higher pre-hydrolysis reaction temperatures and longertimes led to higher water concentrations in the hydrolysate.

TABLE 14 Water concentration in hydrolysates. Water concentration inpretreatment hydrolysate Pretreatment condition (%) 0.4% HCl inglycerol, 110° C., 15 min 32 1.2% HCl in glycerol, 110° C., 15 min 330.4% HCl in glycerol, 130° C., 15 min 40 0.4% HCl in water, 110° C., 60min 44Table 15 shows the compositional analysis of the solid residue samplesfrom pretreatment and the 72 h glucan digestibilities from enzymatichydrolysis. As shown in Table 15, lower lignin contents and higher xylanconcentrations were measured in the solid residues from bagassepretreated by glycerol/acid solutions than in the solid residues from,bagasse pretreated by water/acid solutions. The high ash concentrationsof all samples were the result of the use of bagasse directly from thesugar factory which contained significant quantities of dirt.

TABLE 15 Compositional and enzymatic digestibility of solid residuesamples. 72 h glucan Content in solid residue (%) digestibilityPretreatment conditions Glucan Xylan Lignin Ash (%) 0.4% HCl in water,110° C., 15 min 53.1 3.0 31.7 6.4 57.7 0.4% HCl in glycerol, 110° C., 15min 54.5 6.4 25.4 6.9 79.2 1.2% HCl in water, 110° C. 15 min 53.1 0.930.8 6.8 66.3 1.2% HCl in glycerol, 110° C., 15 min 54.7 4.1 27.0 7.180.0 0.4% HCl in water, 130° C., 15 min 54.1 1.5 31.8 6.4 65.4 0.4% HClin glycerol, 130° C., 15 min 54.2 3.2 26.5 8.4 90.4 0.4% HCl in water,110° C., 60 min 52.0 1.4 31.7 9.6 63.2 0.4% HCl in glycerol, 110° C., 60min 56.5 4.5 26.2 6.7 84.6 0.4% HCl in water, 110° C., 60 min, exploded51.6 1.2 31.7 9.6 67.2 0.4% HCl in glycerol, 110° C., 60 min, exploded54.1 1.7 27.5 11.3 94.8 glycerol, 130° C., 15 min 40.5 20.7 26.3 3.8 7.8

Glucan digestibilities (72 h) of the solid residues from bagassepretreated by glycerol/acid solutions were higher than those pretreatedby water/acid solutions at the same pretreatment temperature and time.Increases in either pretreatment time or pretreatment temperatureresulted in improved glucan digestibilities. Pretreatment at 130° C.with glycerol solution containing 0.4% HCl for 15 min resulted in thehighest glucan digestibility of non-steam exploded materials of 90.4%,followed by a glucan digestibility (72 h) of 84.6% for the solid residuefrom pretreatment, at 110° C. for 60 min in a glycerol solutioncontaining the same amount of acid. A glucan digestibility (72 h) of94.8% was achieved on a sample that had been steam exploded followingglycerol pretreatment. This process resulted in an improvement in glucandigestibility of about 10% compared to the pretreatment without steamexplosion at the same pre-hydrolysis reaction temperature and time. Allof the pretreatments with dilute acid only resulted in glucandigestibilities (72 h) less than 70%.

Compared to the laboratory scale pretreatment results, it appears thatless severe pretreatment conditions (lower amounts of acid, lowertemperatures, shorter pretreatment times, higher water contents, andhigher solid loadings) can be used at the pilot plant scale to achievesimilar enzymatic digestibility outcomes. This outcome is consistentwith the results from other work done on the pilot plant scale. Whilenot wishing to be bound to any particular theory, a few possibleexplanations for this outcome may relate to one or more of thefollowing: improved heat transfer in larger scale reactors, bettermixing, and the impact of larger fibre particle sizes on bulk propertiesof the fluid. Additionally, while not wishing to be bound to anyparticular theory, effective steam explosion is difficult to achieve atlaboratory scales as a result of the relativity between fibre particlesize and steam explosion equipment dimensions.

The kinetics of enzymatic hydrolysis of the solid residues from bagassepretreated by glycerol/acid and water/acid solutions are shown in FIG.7. The enzymatic hydrolysis rates were very rapid for the first 6 h. Formost samples, after 48 h the increase in glucan digestibility was notsignificant.

The concentrations and yields of the key sugar degradation components5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural in the pretreatmenthydrolysate are shown in Table 16. Much lower concentrations of HMF(glucose derivative) and furfural (xylose derivative) were produced withglycerol/HCl pretreatment solutions than with the water/HCl pretreatmentsolutions. The yields of HMF and furfural compared to the total initialsugarcane bagasse were also very low. The yield of3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD, a product from glycerolchlorination) was less than 0.37 g/kg hydrolysate or less than 0.61 g/kginitial glycerol under all conditions. This validated previous resultsthat showed that the presence of water in the pretreatment solutionreduced the production of glycerol chlorination products.

TABLE 16 Concentrations and yields of major components in pretreatmenthydrolysate. Yield on 3-MCPD Concentration (g/kg) bagasse (g/kg) yieldPretreatment Fur- 3- Fur- (g/kg conditions HMF fural MCPD HMF furalglycerol) 0.4% HCl in water, 0.07 1.42  N/A¹  N/D² N/D N/A 110° C., 15min 0.4% HCl in 0.02 0.37 0.30 0.01 0.27 0.44 glycerol, 110° C., 15 min1.2% HCl in water, 0.16 3.40 N/A N/D N/D N/A 110° C., 15 min 1.2% HCl in0.01 0.61 0.31 0.01 0.46 0.46 glycerol, 110° C., 15 min 0.4% HCl inwater, 0.29 2.40 N/A N/D N/D N/A 130° C., 15 min 0.4% HCl in 0.03 1.580.37 0.03 1.34 0.61 glycerol, 130° C., 15 min 0.4% HCl in water, 0.132.99 N/A N/D N/D N/A 110° C., 60 min 0.4% HCl in 0.02 0.88 0.31 0.010.79 0.55 glycerol, 110° C., 60 min ¹N/A: not applicable. ²N/D: notdetermined because total liquid weight could not be estimated.

These results demonstrate the feasibility of the acid catalysed aqueousglycerol process. The enzymatic digestibilities of the solid residuesfrom the process are significantly higher than the digestibilities ofdilute acid pretreated residues under the same conditions. Significantlylower concentrations of fermentation inhibitory products (5-HMF andfurfural) were produced at the pilot plant scale from the glycerol basedprocess than the dilute acid pretreatment process under the sameconditions.

Similar enzymatic digestibility outcomes were achieved in the pilotplant scale experiments compared to those achieved in the laboratoryscale experiments despite less severe pretreatment conditions (e.g.,lower amounts of acid, lower pretreatment temperatures, shorterpretreatment times, and higher water content) being used. Steamexplosion of the solid residue following pre-hydrolysis resulted in aresidue with higher digestibility.

Example 18

Experiments were conducted with ethylene carbonate pretreatmentsolutions and pretreatment solutions including ethylene carbonate andethylene glycol. In these experiments, pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse(particle size between 0.25 mm and 0.5 ram) was conducted in a 100 mLflask containing 40 g solvent and 4 g bagasse (dry weight). The flaskswere not sealed to allow CO₂ generated during pretreatment to escapefrom the vessel. As a result, some water also evaporated throughout thepretreatment process. The mixture was stirred at 500 rpm and heated tothe indicated temperature for a set time as described below. Afterpretreatment, 40 mL of water were added into the pretreatment solution.The solution was well mixed and then filtered (Whatman 541 paper) tocollect the solid residue. The solid residue (i.e., pretreated bagasse)was washed 4 times with 400 mL of distilled water and then filtered. Aportion of the washed solid residue was freeze-dried for compositionanalysis (e.g., glucan, xylan and lignin) by the Laboratory AnalyticalProcedure (NREL, 2008). The other portion of the washed solid residuewas kept at 2° C.-6° C. prior to enzymatic digestibility analysis.

Results

The results from the analyses of the solid residues from the firstseries of ethylene carbonate pretreatment experiments are shown in Table17. It was observed during these experiments that a large quantity ofgas (bubbles) were generated using HCl and H₂SO₄ as acid catalysts. Thegeneration of gas is likely to result from CO₂ generated from ethylenecarbonate. However, bubbles were not observed when acetic acid was usedas the acid catalyst or for ethylene carbonate pretreatments withoutacid catalysts. Some carbonisation of the solid residue was evidentafter pretreatment with 1.2% H₂SO₄ as the acid catalyst, whereas thiswas not observed with HCl as the acid catalyst.

Although bagasse was partially carbonised in the pretreatment withethylene carbonate solution containing 1.2% H₂SO₄ as the acid catalyst,the glucan digestibility was only 74.7%, lower than that of bagassepretreated with ethylene carbonate solution containing 1.2% HCl (80.6%).With lower concentrations of H₂SO₄, the glucan digestibility ofpretreated bagasse reduced significantly. Pretreatment with acetic acidas the acid catalyst and pretreatment without an acid catalyst led tovery poor glucan digestibilities (less than 7%).

Table 18 shows the estimated yields of components in the pretreatmenthydrolysates from the first series of ethylene carbonate pretreatmentexperiments. Only minor amounts of HMF (glucan derivative) weregenerated from the pretreatment process whereas significant amounts offurfural (derivative of C5 sugars) were generated. In addition,significant amounts of ethylene glycol were produced in the reaction,especially in pretreatment solutions with a high acid concentration.Under the same pretreatment conditions, more ethylene glycol wasdetected when H₂SO₄ was used as the acid catalyst than when HCl wasused.

TABLE 17 Results from the first series of ethylene carbonatepretreatment experiments at 120° C. for 15 minutes. Pretreatmentsolution Concentration in solid Recovery in solid residue 72 h glucanconcentrations (%) residue (%) (%) digestibility Total glucose(acid/water¹/EC²) Glucan Xylan Lignin Glucan Xylan Lignin (%) yield (%)1.2 HCl/3.0/95.8 72.5 7.5 16.1 92.0 16.5 30.2 80.6 74.2 1.2H₁SO₄/3.0/95.8 66.5 2.5 —³ 83.7 5.5 — 74.7 62.5 0.4 H₂SO₄/3.0/96.6 68.85.7 21.6 89.9 12.5 41.7 28.5 25.6 0.2 H₂SO₄/3.0/96.8 67.2 11.0 17.5 91.948.2 35.4 12.2 11.2 1.2 AA⁴/3.0/95.8 42.4 0.0 27.1 99.6 98.6 93.1 6.56.5 0.0/3.0/97.0 42.5 0.0 27.1 96.4 98.3 93.5 6.2 6.0 Bagasse control41.8 22.8 28.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 6.0 6.0 ¹Refers to the initial waterconcentration at the commencement of pretreatment ²Ethylene carbonate³Lignin content could not be determined as a result of biomasscarbonisation. ⁴AA: acetic acid

TABLE 18 Estimated yields of components in pretreatment hydrolysate fromthe first series of ethylene carbonate pretreatment experiments.Pretreatment solution Ethylene concentrations (%) Yield on bagasse (%)Yield on glucan (%) Yield on xylan (%) glycol yield (acid/water/EC¹)Glucose Xylose HMF Furfural Glucose HMF Xylose Furfural on EC¹ (%) 1.2HCl/3.0/95.8 0.82 2.47 0.04 4.85 1.97 0.18 10.83 26.54 0.60 1.2H₂SO₄/3.0/95.8 1.83 3.92 0.01 2.05 4.37 0.04 17.21 11.23 1.98 0.4H₃SO₄/3.0/96.6 0.09 0.34 0.01 3.48 0.23 0.03 1.49 19.04 0.49 0.2H₃SO₄/3.0/96.8 0.08 0.45 0.01 1.97 0.18 0.04 1.95 10.77 0.25 1.2AA²/3.0/95.8 Not detected in hydrolysate — — — — — ¹Ethylene carbonate

As the reaction vessel was not sealed, loss of CO₂ generated from theconversion of ethylene carbonate to ethylene glycol and evaporation ofwater resulted in a reduction in solvent mass during the reaction.Results shown in Table 17 were based on the initial solvent weights.

A second series of experiments were conducted to further investigate thepretreatment process. In this series of experiments, no water was addedto the pretreatment solution and the only water present resulted fromthat in the initial bagasse and in the concentrated H₂SO₄ solution(concentration of 72%). For all the pretreatments in this series, theinitial water content was about 0.9%. The pretreatment conditions andresults are shown in Table 19.

The glucan digestibilities (72 h) of the solid residues from bagassepretreated by ethylene carbonate with 0.4% H₂SO₄ as the acid catalystunder all conditions were very low, no greater than 11%. Longerpretreatment times and higher pretreatment temperatures resulted in alower glucan recovery in the solid residues because of partial biomasscarbonisation. In contrast, pretreatment with ethylene glycol with 0.4%H₂SO₄ as the acid catalyst led to much higher 72 h glucandigestibilities although they were still below 81%.

Interestingly, when a portion of ethylene carbonate was replaced byethylene glycol in the pretreatment solution, biomass carbonisation wasno longer observed and the glucan digestibility of the pretreatedbagasse was significantly improved. The glucan digestibility of thesamples pretreated with H₂SO₄ catalysed ethylene carbonate/ethyleneglycol mixtures was also higher than that of the bagasse pretreated byH₂SO₄ catalysed ethylene glycol solutions under the same pretreatmenttemperatures and times. The maximum 72 h glucan digestibility was 95%,resulting from bagasse pretreated at 100° C. for 60 min by the H₂SO₄catalysed ethylene carbonate/ethylene glycol solution, with a ratio ofethylene carbonate to ethylene glycol of 4:1. Slightly lower glucandigestibility was achieved when the ratio of ethylene carbonate toethylene glycol was 1:1.

Table 20 shows the estimated yields of the major components in thepretreatment hydrolysates from the second series of ethylene carbonatepretreatment experiments. The HMF yields from the pretreatments werevery low—no greater than 0.03% of the theoretical yield based on initialglucan content. High furfural yields were observed from pretreatmentswith acid catalysed ethylene carbonate pretreatment solutions. Thefurfural yield from acid catalysed ethylene glycol solutions was verylow, less than 0.09% of the initial pentose. The furfural yields frompretreatments with acid catalysed ethylene carbonate/ethylene glycolmixtures were higher than those with ethylene glycol solutions but muchlower than those with ethylene carbonate only.

Very high glucan digestibilities and low furfural yields were achievedwith the acid catalysed ethylene carbonate/ethylene glycol pretreatmentsolutions at a temperature of only 100° C.

TABLE 19 Results from the second series of ethylene carbonatepretreatment experiments. Total Pretreatment conditions Concentrationsolid residue (%) Recovery in solid residue (%) 72 h glucan glucose(H₂SO₄/water/EC¹/EG²) Glucan Xylan Lignin Glucan Xylan Lignindigestibility (%) yield (%) 0.4/0.9/98.7/0.0, 100° C., 30 min 64.8 8.5 N/D³ 94.9 22.9 N/D 7.8 7.4 0.4/0.9/98.7/0.0, 100° C., 45 min 61.8 5.0N/D 92.7 13.8 N/D 7.0 6.5 0.4/0.9/78.96/19.74, 100° C., 30 min 72.3 8.814.2 96.6 21.7 28.0 91.2 88.1 0.4/0.9/78.96/19.74, 100° C., 60 min 73.16.7 15.2 95.0 15.9 29.2 95.0 90.3 0.4/0.9/49.35/49.35, 100° C., 30 min67.4 11.6 16.8 98.1 31.0 36.2 84.5 82.9 0.4/0.9/49.35/49.35, 100° C., 60min 72.0 9.8 14.9 98.0 24.4 29.9 93.4 91.5 0.4/0.9/0.0./98.7, 100° C.,30 min 58.6 11.2 24.6 99.8 35.0 61.8 73.7 73.6 0.4/0.9/0.0/98.7, 100°C., 60 min 59.1 10.6 23.8 97.3 32.1 57.8 80.9 78.7 0.4/0.9/98.7/0.0,110° C., 15 min 63.6 9.0 N/D 92.4 23.9 N/D 8.6 8.0 0.4/0.9/98.7/0.0,110° C., 30 min 61.1 2.8 N/D 90.5 7.6 N/D 7.8 7.1 0.4/0.9/98.7/0.0, 120°C., 15 min 63.7 3.5 N/D 85.3 8.5 N/D 11.1 9.5 0.4/0.9/98.7/0.0, 120° C.,30 min 59.0 0.9 N/D 71.7 1.6 N/D 7.3 5.2 Bagasse control 41.8 22.8 28.3100.0 100.0 100.0 6.0 6.0 ¹EC: ethylene carbonate; ²EG: ethylene glycol.³Not determined because of biomass carbonisation.

TABLE 20 Estimated yields of components in pretreatment hydrolysatesfrom the second series of ethylene carbonate pretreatment experiments.Ethylene Pretreatment conditions Yield on bagasse (%) Yield on glucan(%) Yield on xylan (%) glycol yield (H2SO4/water/EC/EG) Glucose XyloseHMF Furfural Glucose HMF Xylose Furfural on EC (%) 0.4/0.9/98.7/0.0,100° C., 30 min 1.00 1.50 0.01 2.82 2.40 0.03 6.56 15.45 2.060.4/0.9/98.7/0.0, 100° C., 45 min 0.71 1.11 0.01 2.82 1.71 0.03 4.8515.43 2.20 0.4/0.9/78.96/19.74, 100° C., 30 min 0.73  N/D¹ 0.00 0.081.75 0.00 N/D 0.41  N/A² 0.4/0.9/78.96/19.74, 100° C., 60 min 0.92 N/D0.00 0.10 2.19 0.00 N/D 0.56 N/A 0.4/0.9/49.35/49.35, 100° C., 30 min0.42 N/D 0.00 0.01 1.00 0.00 N/D 0.04 N/A 0.4/0.9/49.35/49.35, 100° C.,60 min 0.60 N/D 0.00 0.03 1.44 0.00 N/D 0.16 N/A 0.4/0.9/0.0/98.7, 100°C., 30 min 0.00 N/D 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.00 N/D 0.09 N/A 0.4/0.9/98.7, 100°C., 60 min 0.35 N/D 0.00 0.01 0.83 0.00 N/D 0.04 N/A 0.4/0.9/98.7/0.0,110° C., 15 min 1.04 2.18 0.01 3.15 2.50 0.04 9.55 17.24 2.780.4/0.9/98.7/0.0, 110° C., 30 min 0.77 1.28 0.01 3.57 1.84 0.04 5.6119.58 2.95 0.4/0.9/98.7/0.0, 120° C., 15 min 0.98 1.89 0.01 6.02 2.340.06 8.28 32.96 3.75 0.4/0.9/98.7/0.0, 120° C., 30 min 0.99 1.61 0.012.67 2.37 0.05 7.07 14.61 5.01 ¹N/D: Not determined. ²N/A: Notapplicable.

The above results demonstrate that mixtures of ethylene carbonate andethylene glycol in the presence of an acid catalyst produce solidresidues with higher glucan digestibilities than the solid residues ofbagasse pretreated using either solvent alone. The pretreatment processis effective at low temperatures and generates low levels of inhibitors.

Example 19

Experiments were conducted with ethylene carbonate pretreatmentsolutions, ethylene glycol pretreatment solutions, and pretreatmentssolutions comprising ethylene carbonate and ethylene glycol.

Table 21 shows the results from pretreatment at 100° C. for 30 min. Thepretreatments were conducted in the presence of 0.4% H₂SO₄ as the acidcatalyst with a varying ratio of ethylene carbonate (EC) to ethyleneglycol (EG). The initial water content was 0.9%. As shown in Table 21,the glucan digestibility was significantly improved by adding EG intothe pretreatment solution compared to a pretreatment solution with ECand no EG. A high glucan digestibility (88-91%) was achieved with theEC/EG ratio range from 2:1 to 9:1. In contrast, the glucan digestibilityof the solid residue after pretreatment with a pretreatment solutioncomprising EG and no EC was 73.7%.

TABLE 21 Results from pretreatment at 100° C. for 30 minutes.Pretreatment conditions Total (H₂SO₄/water/EC/EG), Content in solidresidue (%) Recovery in solid residue (%) 72 h glucan glucose (EC:EG)Glucan Xylan Lignin Glucan Xylan Lignin digestibility (%) yield (%)0.4/0.9/98.7/0.0 (1:0) 64.8 8.5 — 94.9 25.3 — 7.8 7.4 0.4/0.9/88.8/9.9(9:1) 73.5 8.2 14.9 96.4 21.2 31.1 88.2 85.0 0.4/0.9/79.0/19.7 (4:1)72.3 8.8 14.2 96.6 23.1 30.0 91.2 88.1 0.4/0.9/74.0/24.7 (3:1) 68.6 11.715.7 97.1 32.2 34.8 91.0 88.4 0.4/0.9/65.8/32.9 (2:1) 67.2 11.4 17.197.9 31.8 38.4 89.3 87.4 0.4/0.9/49.4/49.4 (1:1) 67.4 11.6 16.8 98.132.2 37.5 84.5 82.9 0.4/0.9/0.0/98.7 (0:1) 58.6 11.2 24.6 98.8 35.5 62.873.7 72.8 Untreated bagasse 41.8 22.8 28.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 6.0 6.0

Table 22 shows the results from pretreatment at 80° C. for 30 min. Thepretreatments were conducted in the presence of 1.2% H₂SO₄ as the acidcatalyst with a varying ratio of ethylene carbonate (EC) to ethyleneglycol (EG). The initial water content was 1.2%. The glucandigestibility was significantly improved by adding EG into thepretreatment solution compared to a pretreatment solution with EC and noEG. A high glucan digestibility (88-91%) was achieved with the EC/EGratio range from 2:1 to 9:1. In contrast, the glucan digestibility ofthe solid residue after pretreatment with a pretreatment solutioncomprising EG and no EC was only 42.2%.

TABLE 22 Results from pretreatment at 80° C. for 30 minutes.Pretreatment conditions Total (H₂SO₄/water/EC/EG), Content in solidresidue (%) Recovery in solid residue (%) 72 h glucan glucose (EC:EG)Glucan Xylan Lignin Glucan Xylan Lignin digestibility (%) yield (%)1.2/1.2/97.6/0.0 (1:0) 64.8 8.7 20.8 94.5 26.1 44.9 11.6 11.01.2/1.2/87.8/9.8 (9:1) 70.1 10.0 16.2 97.6 26.7 35.0 88.7 86.61.2/1.2/78.1/19.5 (4:1) 68.5 10.7 17.4 98.0 29.3 38.4 90.2 88.41.2/1.2/73.2/24.4 (3:1) 65.7 11.8 19.3 97.8 33.7 44.4 90.6 88.61.2/1.2/65.1/32.5 (2:1) 63.6 12.7 20.6 98.2 37.2 48.7 88.1 86.51.2/1.2/48.8/48.8 (1:1) 61.4 12.9 22.7 98.3 39.1 55.7 85.1 83.71.2/1.2/0.0/97.6 (0:1) 52.2 16.8 24.2 97.7 60.4 70.2 42.2 41.2 Untreatedbagasse 41.8 22.8 28.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 6.0 6.0

Table 23 shows the results from pretreatment at 60° C. for 30 minutes.The pretreatments were conducted in the presence of 1.2% H₂SO₄ as theacid catalyst with a varying ratio of ethylene carbonate (EC) toethylene glycol (EG). The initial water content was 1.2%. The glucandigestibility was significantly improved by adding EG into thepretreatment solution compared to a pretreatment solution with EC and noEG. A high glucan digestibility (41-43%) was achieved with the EC/EGratio range from 3:1 to 9:1. In contrast, the glucan digestibility ofthe solid residue after pretreatment with a pretreatment solutioncomprising EG and no EC was only 12.0%.

TABLE 23 Results from pretreatment at 60° C. for 30 minutes.Pretreatment conditions Total (H₂SO₄/water/EC/EG), Content in solidresidue (%) Recovery in solid residue (%) 72 h glucan glucose (EG:EG)Glucan Xylan Lignin Glucan Xylan Lignin digestibility (%) yield (%)1.2/1.2/97.6/0.0 (1:0) 52.3 15.0 24.2 97.0 54.0 70.4 11.9 11.51.2/1.2/87.8/9.8 (9:1) 58.2 14.6 23.3 98.6 46.7 60.0 43.2 42.61.2/1.2/78.1/19.5 (4:1) 55.0 17.3 23.9 98.0 58.9 65.6 41.1 40.31.2/1.2/73.2/24.4 (3:1) 53.5 17.5 25.7 98.3 61.1 72.2 41.8 41.11.2/1.2/0.0/97.6 (0:1) 46.6 23.6 26.4 98.6 94.2 84.9 12.0 11.8 Untreatedbagasse 41.8 22.8 28.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 6.0 6.0

Table 24 shows the results from pretreatment with an EC/EG (4:1)pretreatment solution for 30 min at different temperatures. Thepretreatment solution contained 1.2% H₂SO₄, 1.2% water, 78.1% EC, and19.5% EG. As shown in Table 24, the temperature had a significant effecton the effectiveness of the pretreatment. The glucan digestibility ofthe solid residue increased from 41.1% to 97.1% as the pretreatmenttemperature increased from 60° C. to 90° C.

TABLE 24 Results from pretreatment with an EC/EG (4:1) pretreatmentsolution at varying temperatures for 30 minutes. Total PretreatmentContent in solid residue (%) Recovery in solid residue (%) 72 h glucanglucose temperature (° C.) Glucan Xylan Lignin Glucan Xylan Lignindigestibility (%) yield (%) 60 55.0 17.3 23.9 98.0 58.9 65.6 41.1 40.370 61.0 14.2 20.9 98.9 43.2 51.2 65.9 65.2 80 68.5 10.7 17.4 98.0 29.338.4 90.2 88.4 90 70.2 9.1 16.5 97.3 24.4 35.7 97.1 94.5 Untreatedbagasse 41.8 22.8 28.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 6.0 6.0

Table 25 shows the results from pretreatment with an EC/EG (4:1)pretreatment solution at different water contents at 90° C. for 30 min.The pretreatments were conducted in the presence of 1.2% H₂SO₄ as theacid catalyst. The presence of water in the pretreatment solutions had anegative effect on the effectiveness of the pretreatment. The glucandigestibility of the solid residue decreased from 97.1% to 582% as thewater content increased from 1.2% to 10%.

TABLE 25 Results from pretreatment with an ethylene carbonate/ethyleneglycol (4:1) pretreatment solution at varying water content for 30minutes Total Water Content in solid residue (%) Recovery in solidresidue (%) 72 h glucan glucose content (%) Glucan Xylan Lignin GlucanXylan Lignin digestibility (%) yield (%) 1.2 70.2 9.1 16.5 97.3 24.435.7 97.1 94.5 5.0 64.3 11.4 19.8 98.2 33.2 46.4 85.9 84.4 10.0 58.913.7 23.2 98.0 43.5 59.4 58.2 57.0 Untreated bagasse 41.8 22.8 28.3100.0 100.0 100.0 6.0 6.0

Pretreatment solutions comprising propylene carbonate and propyleneglycol were tested. Table 26 shows the results from pretreatment at 100°C. for 30 min. The pretreatments were conducted in the presence of 0.4%H₂SO₄ as the acid catalyst with a varying ratio of propylene carbonate(PC) to propylene glycol (PG). The initial water content was 0.9%. Asshown in Table 26, the glucan digestibility of the solid residue afterpretreatment with a pretreatment solution comprising PC and no PG was3.8%. The glucan digestibility was increased to 49.5% with a PC/PG (9:1)pretreatment solution. Decreasing the PC/PG ratio of the pretreatmentsolution increased the glucan digestibility of the solid residue. Theglucan digestibility was between about 74% and about 80% afterpretreatment with a pretreatment solution have a PC/PG ratio from 3:1 to4:1. The glucan digestibility of the solid residue after pretreatmentwith a pretreatment solution comprising PG and no PC was 35.3%.

TABLE 26 Results from pretreatment with propylene carbonate/propyleneglycol pretreatment solutions at 100° C. for 30 minutes Pretreatmentconditions Total (H₂SO₄/water/PC/PG), Content in solid residue (%)Recovery in solid residue (%) 72 h glucan glucose (PC:PG) Glucan XylanLignin Glucan Xylan Lignin digestibility (%) yield (%) 0.4/0.9/98.7/0.0,(1:0) 63.2 12.5 22.5 99.3 36.5 52.9 3.8 3.8 0.4/0.9/88.83/9.87, (9:1)72.2 12.1 12.4 96.4 31.8 26.3 49.5 47.7 0.4/0.9/78.96/19.74, (4:1) 72.612.3 11.3 96.0 32.3 23.9 80.1 76.9 0.4/0.9/49.35/49.35, (3:1) 60.0 13.921.5 97.1 43.6 54.5 74.5 72.4 0.4/0.9/0.0/98.7, (0:1) 51.3 17.3 24.699.2 62.1 71.4 35.3 35.0 Untreated bagasse 41.8 22.8 28.3 100.0 100.0100.0 6.0 6.0

Example 20

Samples of sugarcane bagasse were separately treated with variouspretreatment solutions/conditions and compared to pretreatments carriedout with alkylene carbonate/polyol pretreatment solutions. FIG. 8Acompares pretreatment using a pretreatment solution containing 1.2%H₂SO₄, 1.2% water, 78.1% ethylene carbonate (EC), and 19.5% ethyleneglycol (EG) at 60° C. and 80° C., pretreatment using a dilute acidsolution comprising 0.73% H₂SO₄ at 170° C. for 15 minutes in a ParrReactor, and untreated bagasse. FIG. 8B compares the amount ofinhibitors present after pretreatment using the dilute acid pretreatmentsolution and the EC/EG pretreatment solution at 80° C. The temperatureat which various pretreatments are carried out at is compared in FIG.8C.

The foregoing is illustrative of the present invention, and is not to beconstrued as limiting thereof. The invention is defined by the followingclaims, with equivalents of the claims to be included therein. Allpublications, patent applications, patents, patent publications, andother references cited herein are incorporated by reference in theirentireties for the teachings relevant to the sentence and/or paragraphin which the reference is presented.

1. A method for producing a partially hydrolyzed lignocellulosicmaterial, comprising pretreating a lignocellulosic material with apretreatment solution comprising about 30% to about 99% by weightalkylene carbonate, about 0.1% to about 5% by weight an acid catalyst,and about 0% to about 20% by weight water, thereby producing apretreated partially hydrolyzed lignocellulosic material.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the pretreating step is carried out at a temperaturefrom about 50° C. to about 150° C.
 3. (canceled)
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the pretreating step is carried out for a period of time fromabout 1 minute to about 120 minutes.
 5. (canceled)
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the pretreating step is carried out at a biomassloading from about 1% to about 20% by weight of the pretreatmentsolution. 7.-10. (canceled)
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein thealkylene carbonate is present in an amount of about 45% to about 99%,the acid catalyst is present in an amount of about 0.1% to about 2% byweight of the pretreatment solution, and water is present in an amountof about 0% to about 5% by weight of the pretreatment solution.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the pretreatment solution further comprises apolyol in an amount from about 1% to about 55%.
 13. (canceled)
 14. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the partially hydrolyzed lignocellulosicmaterial has a total recovered lignin content of about 20% of the totallignin in the lignocellulosic material prior to the pretreating step.15. The method of claim 1, wherein the pretreating step decreases theamount of hemicellulose in the lignocellulosic material by at least 40%.16. The method of claim 1, wherein the pretreating step reduces theproduction of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, furfural, and/or acetic acid. 17.The method of claim 1, wherein the pretreated lignocellulosic materialis separated from the pretreatment solution.
 18. The method of claim 17,wherein the pretreatment solution is collected for reuse in pretreatingadditional lignocellulosic material.
 19. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising washing the pretreated lignocellulosic material with a basicsolution.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the basic solution has apH of about pH 11 or greater.
 21. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising enzymatically hydrolyzing the pretreated lignocellulosicmaterial to produce a fermentable sugar.
 22. The method of claim 21,wherein enzymatic digestibility of the pretreated lignocellulosicmaterial is increased by at least two times compared to untreatedlignocellulosic material.
 23. The method of claim 21, wherein theenzymatic hydrolysis step is carried out with microbially producedenzymes, plant produced enzymes, or any combination thereof.
 24. Themethod of claim 21, wherein the enzymatic hydrolysis step is carried outwith an enzyme selected from the group consisting of cellulases,ligninases, hemicellulases, xylanases, lipases, pectinases, amylases,proteinases, and any combination thereof.
 25. The method of claim 21,wherein the fermentable sugar is selected from the group consisting ofglucose, xylose, arabinose, galactose, mannose, rhamnose, sucrose,fructose, and any combination thereof.
 26. The method of claim 1,wherein prior to the pretreating step the lignocellulosic material istreated with an acid solution at a temperature from about 80° C. toabout 200° C., wherein the acid is present in an amount of about 0.1% toabout 5.0% by weight of the acid solution.